A Life So Changed
by Jules-Millicent
Summary: Hermione wants to find information for an assignment. The only way to get it is to go back in time. So she uses her time-turner to collect info for a paper, but Draco accidentally goes to the past with her. They need work together to get back to the present, & along the way, they learn a few things about each other that surprise the other. Headboy/girl EWE. please R,R,F,F.
1. Chapter 1

Hermione stood on the platform of 9 ¾ with her two best friends "I can't believe you aren't coming back for our last year" she said to them.

"Well what do you expect Hermione, I was waiting for an excuse not to go back since I first got there" Ron joked. Hermione knew that a part of him was sad not to be going back, but he did hate school, and she was sure that if it wasn't for them always saving the day that he would have failed out of school.

Harry smiled, "besides with all of our experience during the war, the ministry isn't requiring us to have to take our N.E.W.T.S. In fact, you don't even need to go back yourself, but you would never feel like you've earned the job if you didn't pass all the required tests. You're going to have a great year Hermione, I just know it, and you've become a head girl who is going to be amazing. He pulled her into a deep hug "now hurry, or you'll miss the train."

Hermione smiled into his shoulder "Thanks, Harry," she then hugged Ron. "I'm going to miss you both so much!" She grabbed her luggage rack and wheeled it over to one of the conductors who took it to the baggage car. She turned one last time and waved to the two men on the platform before entering the Hogwarts Express.

She found an empty compartment and made herself comfortable. She took out a book from her bag; the book was titled "Wizards and Witches: Banishment". She had found it in the back corner of Second- hand bookshop on Diagon Alley.

She was in the middle of reading about Jean Millicent, who had been banished back in 1540 for having an affair with and showing her magic to a muggle, not only was she banished, the ministry had made the decision to bind her magic when her cabin door opened, and the noise startled her. Looking up she saw the thin frame of Draco Malfoy, he wasn't even paying attention to see if anyone was even in this compartment. He had a muggle portable cd player in his hand, headphones over his ears, and a bag draped over his shoulder.

Hermione watched him not even notice her and sit across from her, unsure of whether she should say anything she just stared at him. It wasn't until he had put down his bag that he noticed her "Jeez! Granger, when did you get here?"

She rolled her eyes, she didn't have loathsome hate for him anymore, and not that she ever really did, especially once he convinced his family to switch sides during the war. He never really was a bad guy just doing what he thought he was supposed to. "I've been here since we've left London." She pointed to the cd-player, "Since when do you use muggle inventions?"

"Oh, this" he lifted it to emphasize that's what he was talking about, "I typically don't call it an experiment of some kind. I've seen muggles and wizards use it, and I wanted to see what it was. Did you know that there is some decent muggle music?"

Hermione gave a slight chortle, she had been listening to muggle music her whole life "yes I did." Closing her book and leaning forward she asked him "what are you listening to right now?"

"Umm? I never seem to be able to remember any of the band's names." He reached into his bag and pulled out a cd case, "a band called Matchbox 20. Have you heard of them?"

Hermione's eyes widened as she reached for the CD case "heard of them? I love them; they are one of my favorite muggle band's at the moment. Which is your favorite song?"

Draco laughed at her outburst "mine too, who knew we would have something in common. Though, to be honest, I haven't actually been listening to a lot of so-called modern music. During the summer, after everything was settled, I wanted to immerse myself into muggle culture to get a better sense of the types of beings they are. So I asked the house elves to gather some muggle music. Come to find out they had asked my aunt Andromeda for recommendations so most of what I listened to was music from the 1970's, a lot of Queen, Aerosmith. As for my favorite song off of this album, I think it has to be Back 2 Good." He points his pointer finger at her "no wise cracks!"

She raised her hands in defense "I would never. That's a good song; my favorite is the song Push." Draco nodded his head in agreement; he noticed her book that was now resting in her lap. "That's the Hermione I always know with her nose in a book" he smirked.

"Ha-Ha-Ha" she faked laughed, "so what I enjoy reading, it's not a flaw." Hermione gripped the book tighter to her body, she was tired of people making fun of her for her love of reading.

This time, Draco raised his hands in defense "never said it was, just nice to see that even after everything somethings haven't changed."

"What made you want to come back this year? I was sure that you wouldn't want to" She asked him.

"To be honest to get out of my house! I couldn't take my parents trying to actual talk to me and act like they cared about what I was doing. It was honestly great in the beginning. I had spent most of my life having to worry about myself; when it came to the little things, my parents didn't care. If it didn't make my family come off in a bad light, I was on my own. They only cared if it would make others suffer, like for instance Hagrid in the third year. It is also nice once in a while, but it got to the point where every day my mom wanted to know what I was up too, where I was going, who I was going to be with, etc. I'm 17 the legal age to do whatever I want, and now they are all over my every move. My father was worse than my mother he tried to have the father/son talk with me. I had to explain that he was a few years too late for that."

"Oh. Well, they are just trying to be normal parents, it is new for them too. My parents are always asking where I am going, even though they know I am pretty much a saint."

"That's all well and good, but it drove me bonkers. Besides my letter from Hogwarts said that if I returned, I would be put into the position of head boy."

Hermione's eyes grew wide "You're head, boy?" she didn't mean to have her tone be so shocked; but she was shocked.

He shrugged "yes why?" as he raised an eyebrow at her.

" It's just that I'm head girl. It looks like we will be roommates this year" she gave a small smile trying to hide her sheer bewilderment and dread. Draco looked at her and smirked, "I could think of worse people to be roommates with."

She felt her cheeks warm. He was the first to depart from their conversation by placing his earphones back over his head. Hermione thought that was slightly rude, but had come to expect nothing much of manners from Draco. She reopened her book and began reading again. Every few pages Hermione would steal glances at Draco who was curled against the wall asleep.

She only woke him when it was time to meet with the other prefects and talk about their duties for the upcoming year. Once they were back in their compartment they each returned to what they were doing, Draco sleeping listening to music and Hermione reading, for the remainder of the train ride, sitting in surprisingly comfortable silence.

Hermione and Draco entered their new room, after the banquet to start the new year. It was larger than expected. Each had their own bedroom, and bathroom; they just shared a common room. There was also a little kitchenette, which Hermione was excited for since her long hours of studying coffee had become her friend and now it was right here in her room she didn't need to feel guilty for asking the house elves to get it for her. No matter what anyone told her, not even house elves themselves, she would never be convinced that they actually liked to serve witches and wizards. To her, it was almost like Stockholm syndrome, where they are conditioned to think that they love humans as slaves.

"This is nice," Draco said as he sat on the couch. The room had hints of Slytherin and Gryffindor together greens and reds, silvers and golds. "Yes, it is" Hermione responded as she sat on the other end of the sofa. She was excited to start her classes tomorrow. This year's schedule was going to be a good one; her classes consisted of Charms, Potions, Arithmancy, Herbology, History of Magic and Transfiguration. She wondered what Draco schedule was like "are you excited to start classes?"

"Excited isn't the word I would use, but yeah it should be good. I have easy classes this year."

"What are you taking? Maybe were in the same class" Hermione questioned.

"Charms, Potions, Alchemy, which might be my hardest one but doubtful, Herbology, and Arithmancy" he replied.

"Wow four out of six, I guess we can be study buddies" she chuckled.

Draco smirked "dying to spend more time with me, Granger?"

Hermione quickly looked down and blushed "no, I…I was attempting a joke…."

Draco burst out laughing "I know that, I was making one back. I didn't realize that you were so sensitive about it."

Hermione felt her face being on fire from blushing so much "no I'm not sensitive about it, I just don't usually crack jokes, …."

Draco could only smile at this "it's alright Granger if it upsets you I'll try to refrain from cracking jokes with you."

"No it's fine, I don't know why I even... Joking around is fine. Just forget it." She waved her arm in front of her.

"It's forgotten." He got up from the couch "well I'm off to bed, see you in the morning study buddy" he winked as he closed his door.

"Oh," Hermione blushed again as she closed her door.

The first half the semester was going fairly well. It was November, and that meant it was time for midterms; she was positive that she was going to fine on all her tests. Despite joking about, in the beginning, she and Draco did occasionally study together. It amazed her how smart he was. She knew he was second only to her for most of their time at Hogwarts but to see him studying in person was different.

The only class that was going to be an issue for midterms was her History of Magic class. This class didn't have a test, but rather a 3-foot parchment essay. The essay topic was to pick a witch or wizard that wasn't well known and talk about their accomplishments.

She still had to choose a person to write about; she had no idea why it was so hard to pick someone. That night, which was Thursday, the essay was due that following Monday, she sat on her bed looking up at the ceiling "what am I going to do?" She closed her eyes to cleanse her mind of everything and decided to just read and hopefully a person will come to mind.

She remembered her new book Wizards & Witches: Banishment that she had begun reading on the Hogwarts Express. To her surprise, she hadn't gotten to finish it yet. Now she remembered why she didn't finish she was too busy looking at Draco instead of actually reading.

She flipped to the page she left on, the Wizards name was Wilford Crockford. He was banished back in 1902 for discovering that muggles and wizards have the same type of blood. The only difference is a small mutation that allows them to do magic. It is almost identical to the mutation or DNA strands that make someone have blue eyes instead of brown, blonde hair instead of red. The ministry of magic rejected his discovery and he was banished to live in the muggle world. His name was changed to William Clarke.

"Hmm this seems fascinating," Hermione said to herself. She grabbed her notebook and began to take notes on Wilford Crockford. As Hermione continued to read, she learned that he was superb at predicting the future as well. Though she felt that skill wasn't actually possible, one couldn't predict the future. Closing the book in a rush, she decided that she needed to know if there were more books on him.

Hermione exited her room to see Draco laying on the couch listening to music. They didn't have to tell each other where they were going, but it had become a habit for them to do so. Since the semester started, they had become somewhat friends. She knelt down close to him to gently tap his shoulder, the movement shocked him awake "uh? What? Oh hey what do you want?" he asked as reclosed his eyes without taking in the fact that she was just next to his face.

She rolled her eyes as she leaned back on her heels "I don't want anything just letting you know that I'm going to be in the library for a little bit so don't miss me too much." Without waiting for a reply, she got to her feet and left. She could hear his laughter through the closed door. She smiled to herself as she headed to the library.

Once in the library, Hermione strode over to the card catalog to see what she could find on Wilford Crockford/ William Clarke. She could find only one book in the restricted section. The ministry must not have wanted his discovery known. She found the book she was looking for, took back to a table and began to read.

There wasn't much more information in this book then the book back in her room. The only thing that it had to add was two points; one that Crockford had lived the rest of his days in the muggle world in unknown locations and his last known place that he was, was his death on April 15, 1912. The book explained that he had died on the Titanic on his way to America. It doesn't say whether he was going to convince the American Ministry about his discovery. Then two one of the members of the Wizengamot that had banished Crockford in the first place was Draco's great grandfather Gaius Malfoy. Along with some other surnames that she recognized: Nash Black, Samuel Potter, and Hamilton Parkinson.

After reading through the section for the tenth time she knew, there was only one thing she could do to get the answers Hermione needed; she needed to go back to in time to see him on the Titanic. It was only placed that she knew that she could find him. If she went back earlier and tried to find him in Muggle London, it might not be as easy. She just had to see what he had discovered, what he thought, how he felt, everything.

Hermione still had her time-turner that Dumbledore had given her back in her third year. Something had told her not to get rid of it, and now she knew why.

It was midnight when she got back to their room Draco was still asleep on the couch. Hermione couldn't help but stare at him; he looked so peaceful while he slept. His blonde hair had fallen on his face it was cute. Hermione always liked it when his hair was slightly messy.

Hermione continued to look at him, not sure why she kept doing it but she did, he suddenly began to stir, which made her jump. Hermione leaned in and whispered "Goodnight Draco" before retreating into her room.

Hermione rummaged through her things; knowing that she had packed it with her. She had done it every year since she had it. Finally at the bottom of her trunk there it was. She carefully picked it up; she knew the risks, especially going back so far in time. She wouldn't have any magic; she wouldn't be able to use the time-turner herself, so it was crucial to find Crockford. She knew a lot about the Titanic, when she was still in muggle school she had done a report about it.

But she did want to be refreshed before she took this journey, so she took out the only books that the school library had on it. She opened her door to see if Draco was still on the couch; he had moved to his room.

Draco had fallen back asleep on the sofa after Hermione had left for the library. "Bookworm" he laughed to himself. Much later Draco awoke st the sound of the door opening and closing, still too tired Draco didn't bother opening his eyes. In a moment he could feel that unmistakable feeling of her staring at him. He was accustomed to the sense of being stared at, but it was becoming a common occurrence for her to stare at him. It didn't bother him so he kept still with his eyes shut. After awhile though he had a feeling that if he didn't move, she would've continued to stare at him. So ever so slightly he twitched and rolled onto his side. He could hear her make a small gasp and jump backward.

It took every fiber of his being not to smirk at her. He felt her hot breath near his ear "Goodnight Draco." It wasn't until he heard her door shut that he opened his eyes and sat up. His body felt warm, but he was relaxed, he looked at her door and had a real smile; that seemed to be happening a lot lately, but no one knew. He gathered his things and went into his room.

The next morning he could hear birds chirping outside "Ugh, I hate mornings." He slowly stretched and planted his feet on the ground. Looking at his clock which read that it was 6:30 "Ah bloody hell! I don't even have classes today why am I even up this early?" he groaned. Knowing that he would be unable to fall back asleep, got up and shuffled to the kitchenette for some coffee.

He glanced at Hermione's door; he heard her awake, Draco planned to ask if she wanted coffee as well after he got himself dressed. Fifteen minutes later he exited his room and knocked on her door. There was no answer, but he heard her in there. Not one to be ignored Draco opened the door "Hermione I wanted to know…" he said as he entered. He didn't have the ability to finish his sentence because he was sucked into the spell that Hermione had just cast.

Hermione heard him knock but was in the middle of turning the time-turner and didn't want to lose count so ignored him. She hadn't been able to sleep, so she was studying all night; she had just a few more turns to go when Draco opened her door. She heard his voice, but it was too late the spell had started, he was sucked in with her.

They went spinning through time surrounded by a bright white light. They soon landed on a hard wooden deck.


	2. Chapter 2

It was dark, and no one but them was on the deck. Draco was the first to speak "What the hell Granger! Where are we?" he hissed.

"Hey don't what the hell me Malfoy! You are the one who barged into MY room, you being here is not my fault." She snapped back, taking a deep breath before responding "and to answer your question, we are on the Muggle ship the Titanic."

"The what? I've never heard of it. What is going on?" Draco was getting frustrated.

"Calm down, I'll explain. I have a paper due in my history of magic class, the wizard I am researching is on this ship. He was banished, and there is no information on him, so I used my time-turner to send me back here so I could interview him."

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose "this is ridiculous of course you would pick someone who didn't have any information on them!" He wanted to continue talking when they heard people come walking around the corner.

"Quick in here," Hermione said and entered a small closet, luckily there was a light in there. "That was close" she breathed.

"Whatever," Draco said trying to get back to the fight. "You need to use that time-turner thing and bring us back to the present. What year is this?"

"It's 1912, and I can't do that," she said.

"Why can't you do that? Who cares about some guy for paper, pick someone else" Draco hissed.

"It isn't because I want to write about him, which I do, but that isn't the reason. The reason is that we don't have any magic so the time-turner will not work for us." She said through clenched teeth, getting frustrated with not only Draco but herself for letting this whole mess happen, to try to say it as calmly as possible, but she knew he was going to be very mad.

"What do you mean we have no magic?" he growled.

Hermione began to tug on her hair for a moment, looked at the ground until mustering up her courage before explaining "well you see neither you nor I were born yet, so we don't exist so ergo any magic."

"Impossible, I'm a Malfoy, pure blood, magic is in my veins, unlike you, you mud blood" Draco hissed. The second those words flew out of his mouth he had instant regret. He had stopped using that term during the war, and he got mad at himself that he had let himself say it in anger. His face squished in disgust with himself. Draco looked down at Hermione's arm and saw the scar, even though it was barely visible now, that Bellatrix gave her. He internally vowed never to say it again even in anger.

Hermione knew that he didn't mean to call her, she was aware that he had stopped using the term a long time ago. She realized that he said it out of anger, so she wasn't angry with him. She looked at him and put on a smile that Harry and Ron had learned meant 'just accept the fact that I am smarter and know more than you. I am always right so just listen to what I say', "Oh really? Go ahead try to use magic." She gestured her arm in a way to show him that floor was all his to prove her wrong.

Draco took out his wand from his back pocket "Fine, I will." He pointed it at the pile of blankets that were on a shelf "Accio blanket" he said. Despite repeating the spell three times, there was still no results. "This can't be happening," he said in frustration.

Hermione couldn't help herself from smiling in his defeat "see I told you we don't have any magic. Right now Draco you are nothing more than an ordinary…."

"Don't you dare say it!" he pointed his finger warningly.

"MUGGLE!" she erupted into a fit of giggles.

"HA-HA-HA yes the great Draco Malfoy is going to need to learn how to be a muggle." He combed his hand through his hair in thought. "Wait a minute if you knew you weren't going to have any magic how were you going to get back in the first place?"

"I was going to find Wilford Crockford; that's the wizard I doing my research on, and I was going to have him send me back" she answered.

"What if you didn't find him?"

Hermione was quiet she knew that there was a small possibility that she wouldn't find him, she had an idea of what she wanted to do. But there was still the possibility that Hermione would be stuck on the ship and who knows what would happen to her then. Draco took her silence as an answer "are you telling me the Hermione Granger didn't have a backup plan? You would have been stuck here, still not sure where here is, but here forever. How could you be that irresponsible over something as trivial as a term paper?" He wasn't sure why he was getting so upset at the idea that Hermione may not have ever come back, but he was angry.

"I do have a backup plan, it's just not foolproof, and you don't need to know what it is, just know that I have one." Though Hermione knew that he was right, and this whole thing was stupid, and now they may never get home, and it was all her fault. She could feel tears forming. "I'm sorry" she whispered.

"Crying will not help, and I'm not very good at consoling people so please stop. We need to form some plan we can't stay in this closet forever."

Hermione wiped her eyes "well first thing first we need to get some clothing, our clothes will stick out like a sore thumb." They were both in Muggle clothes; she was in jeans with a light pink shirt on that complemented her skin tone and hair, which was down but pulled back off her face with a bobby pin clip. Draco finally noticed her attire and couldn't help but think that she look rather beautiful for wearing something so plain. He was wearing all black, like always, black trousers and a black shirt, his hair was not gelled into place, and he had wisps of hair fall into his face, the way Hermione always liked it.

"Sore thumb?" He looked at her quizzically.

"It's a muggle idiom; it means out of place, not like the rest."

He frowned "that's stupid. Why would anyone use that term?"

"Well people have been describing unusual things with the phrase "it sticks out like a sore thumb" since at least the middle of the 16th century, and the idiom is probably much older…." She began to explain but was stopped by Draco. "I don't want a history lesson, forget I asked. Are you going to be using any more muggle idioms while we are on this little adventure?"

She shrugged how she could answer that they just come out "I don't know. I never plan on saying them they just come out. But if I do I'll tell you what it is."

"Fine. Now how are we going to get some clothes? And what are we going to do about sleeping and eating?"

"Well the ship wasn't full, so there are empty cabins in each class, we could find an empty one and use that one."

Draco nodded in understanding "where are the nicest cabins?"

"In first class" she replied.

"Well then that is where we are going to go" he decided for them.

Hermione rolled her eyes 'Godric, of course, he wants to be in first class….' She thought to herself.

Before she could finish her thought, it was as if he was reading her mind he said "I am not going to spend my time in a cabin that is for poor people. I travel in style. But you haven't said how we are going to get clothes. There won't be any in an empty room."

Hermione looked at him with a confused look, how did he just know what I was thinking? Must have been a coincidence. She brought herself out of her thoughts; this wouldn't be the first time that she had to do a little bit of 'borrowing' things that didn't belong to her to get what she needed to get done said with confidence "well we are going to have to borrow some from other people."

"You mean steal" Draco smirked.

"No borrowing, we would return them once we're done" not that they would be of any use to them once the ship sank, she remarked to herself.

"Wow Hermione you surprise me, never thought you had it in you. Maybe you were supposed to be in Slytherin after all" he winked.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Well come on we need to find an empty cabin and BORROW, some clothes. We need a couple of day outfits and dinner outfits."

She quietly opened the door to their hiding spot, and she looked in both directions the deck was empty now. No noise except the sound of the ship pushing through the water. She waved to him to follow, he smirked at this was a side of Hermione that he's never seen, and it intrigued him. He chuckled to himself as he followed her.

She led him to a door that had a sign above that said first class entrance they entered and were about to go down a long corridor "Ok so people are probably asleep so we should just find an empty cabin, and we will get clothes tomorrow while everyone is at breakfast" she said.

Without waiting for a response, she entered the hallway. She tried to remember which rooms were left empty from those who didn't board. She then remembered and booked it down the corridor, Draco right behind her. "Hermione, Salazar why are you running? You are going to wake everyone with you galloping down the hall" he harshly whispered when he finally caught up with her.

"Sorry I just remembered which cabin is free, you see some people who had purchased tickets didn't end up on board, so their rooms are empty. Like this one" she pointed to a door.

Draco looked at the door "are you sure that this is one of the empty cabins?" Hermione nodded. Draco took the handle and tried to open it. "If it is empty why is it locked?" he frowned.

Hermione sighed as if it was obvious "to keep people out from sneaking in."

"Well, then how are we supposed to get in we are sneaking in and don't have a key, and have no magic so we can't Alohamora the lock either. All of this is your fault, so you better have a solution, Granger."

Hermione turned away from him, without saying a word she took out her bobby-pin clip and jimmied the lock. Within a few seconds, the door was open. Hermione stood with a proud smile on her face and her arm outstretched to show the empty room "ta-da" she said.

Draco gave an impressed nod of his head "stealing and breaking and entering you are not what I thought Hermione." He touched her shoulder for a moment and entered the room.

She wasn't used to him calling her by her first name, she liked it, but it was still odd. She rubbed her shoulder and followed behind him. "Just so you know I don't make it a habit to break-in to places, only when the need arises."

"Whatever you say, you just seem to be splendid at picking that lock." He looked around the room "I think we may have our first real problem."

"What?" Hermione hadn't taken a look at the place, yet she was still looking at Draco.

"There is only one bed in here, and that sofa is not made to be slept on." He pointed to the furniture in question.

Hermione finally noticed the situation "oh no we… we can't share a bed…" the closest she had shared a bed with a boy was when she and Harry went out looking for the Horcruxes and spent all that time in the tent. But they each had their place to sleep. "I'm sure you can fit on the couch" she argued.

He tilted his head and raised his left eyebrow "Oh you think… you think I can fit on the sofa? Well then let's see" he mocked. He went to lay down on, and he clearly didn't fit "so you still think I can sleep here? Maybe you can sleep on it? You are much shorter than I am" he turned to a sitting position and stared at her. "Besides it is your fault that we are stuck here so if anyone is going to sleep on the bed it will be me for all the suffering that I've had to put up with."

"No… "She bit her lower lip, then it registered what he just said. "my fault? Suffering? Oh come off it Draco, you haven't suffered at all. I found us the room, I'm going to be the one to who is going to suffer because I will have to teach you how to act in front of muggles. So, therefore, I get the bed. If you curl your legs, you will fit on the sofa!"

"Yes, this is your fault! If you had consulted me before you decided to make this half fast idea of time travel, we wouldn't be in this mess. But of course being a Gryffindor you are so hard headed, and rash when it comes to making decisions you just went ahead and decided to go back 86 years on a quest that has no guarantee of the outcome that you want. On your point that you found the room well, of course, you found it since I have never heard of this bloody ship how would I know of any open rooms? That shouldn't factor in on who should get the bed." Draco snapped back at her. "Also I am not a complete moron, unlike those idiots you call friends, I know how to act in front of people. Despite on my views and speech from the past, I know that muggles and wizards are the same just the difference of magic. Stop thinking you are better than me Hermione because of my past. I figured we were over that when we got back to school. If it is such an issue for you I'll take the damn sofa, so the princess wins this round again" he frowned as he leaned back on the couch.

"Don't call me princess! Don't call Harry, Ron, or any of my friends idiots. I wasn't implying that you were an idiot when I said I'd have to teach you how to be around muggles. This is a world that you are not accustomed to, and you are being thrown into it. I have some experience with that. So you are right this is my fault that we are on Titanic, but I will get us out this mess."

"How?" Draco leaned forward resting his arms on his thighs.

Hermione gulped "I'm not sure yet but I will. Now I am getting tired I didn't sleep at all, and this fight is getting us nowhere, so we can, I guess, share the bed. It isn't like it means anything or that anything will happen if we share the bed for a night."

Draco smirked, got up and began to walk over to the bed where she was standing "If it makes you more comfortable we can sleep in our clothes," he leaned close to her and whispered, "even though I normally sleep in the nude."

Hermione's face became on fire, and she was sure that she looked like a tomato from how hard she was blushing. She turned away trying to get the image of Draco being naked out of her head. It wasn't a bad picture, but she was sure that she shouldn't be thinking it. She shook the thought from her head shoved him slightly and said: "Whatever" climbing into the bed.

Draco wasn't sure why he was teasing her so much. He didn't want to upset her much, just wanted to see her blush, it was almost too easy. Perhaps he reasoned to himself he wanted to lighten the mood after their fight. When he bent over to whisper in her ear, he could smell her perfume. A pleasant mix of Lavender and Chamomile, he was now enamored with it.

He stood back up when she shoved him and watched her turn bright red; he couldn't help but smile. "Glad we agree" he climbed into the bed after her. "I hope you don't mind, but I have to sleep on the right side."

She still didn't look at him in the eye quite yet, "that's fine. I don't have a preference." She let him climb over her then curled herself into a ball to sleep.

"Well, do you have a preference on whether you're the big spoon or the little spoon?"

The statement made Hermione snap her eyes open, turning her body she stared at him with shock "what big or little spoon? Oh, no we are not cuddling!"

Draco burst out a hearty gut laugh "oh you should've seen your face! I'm only kidding."

"You're impossible Draco Malfoy!" she said indignantly. She turned over so she wouldn't have to look at his face. She felt the tears sting her eyes, why did he always have to tease her?

Draco felt a pang of guilt for upsetting her so much, he went to reach for her shoulder but stopped himself. He looked at the clock on the bedside table it read that it was midnight, he wondered what the date was; but he'd find out tomorrow. "Goodnight Hermione," he said as he shut off the light that was hanging over the bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Morning came a little too quickly for Draco's liking. Even though yesterday he wasn't awake for that long he still had gone through a lot. He rubbed his eyes, and face looked around and knew that what had happened wasn't some awful dream. He was next to a wall, and the only way to the loo was to climb over her, he stretched one more time before making the attempt. He had to say though that last night was the best night sleep he had gotten in a long time. As softly and quietly as he could, he climbed over her. Turning around to see if she was still asleep, which she was, he took in her scent again.

He went over to the sink and splashed cold water on his face; this whole thing was crazy. He realized that he had no way to brush his teeth Draco looked around hoping this god-forsaken place had something he could use. Looking on the counters, he found something. He read it out loud "cherry toothpaste, doesn't sound appealing but better than bad breath I guess." Unsure on how to use it he read instructions 'place toothbrush in canister give a generous swipe to have paste cover entire toothbrush, then scrub on teeth. Only keep on teeth for no longer than three minutes, rinse mouth with water.' Draco had seen Hermione use a toothbrush before so he knew the mechanics of what he was supposed to do; though he had no toothbrush with him, it only left him with the option to use his finger. He washed his hands with soap before scooping some from the ceramic jar onto his finger. Draco scrubbed his teeth and tongue, rinsing his mouth thoroughly. He rewashed his hands and dried his mouth, which surprisingly felt clean.

When he exited, he saw that Hermione was sitting up in the bed doing mental calculations.

"What are you thinking about?"

His voice startled her "Oh nothing."

"Don't give me that. I've known you for eight years now while we weren't very close for most of them; I know when you have the look of solving a problem. What is it you're thinking about?" Draco asked again as he sat next to Hermione on the bed.

Hermione sighed "weren't very close is an understatement Draco you quite literally tortured and tormented me for years, but at this moment I am just thinking of everything I guess. I'm just trying to figure out how we are going to accomplish everything in time. We still need to find clothes for us to wear, find Wilford Crockford, and then after all that hope he can send us home."

Draco didn't know what to say to her; she was right he was awful to her when they were younger. Most people thought it was because it was her blood status; it wasn't though. It might have turned into that in the subsequent years but he never fully hated her for her blood like people thought, if anything he hated her blood for the fact his father hated her blood and would never accept her. He first noticed her when they got off the Hogwarts Express he knew she was smart; they could've been alias. Then he saw her with Potter and Weasely; he knew that she would never want anything to do with him especially after she learned all the things his family had done to the Weasely family. Their fate was sealed when he was sorted into Slytherin like the good Malfoy that he is, and she was sorted into Gryffindor. Being raised to keep up appearances, Draco did everything he could to make her life miserable and his elitist pureblood father happy. It broke him little by little to be cruel to someone who was never cruel back to him. He remembered her face when he first called her a mudblood. She wasn't angry no she was sad. Not sad, hurt. He had hurt her with his words, but that didn't stop him from using the slur over and over again. After awhile he kept saying it so his own thoughts of her would go away.

Potter and Weasely no sympathy there they took his bait and used it back on him, but Hermione always tried to look for the good in people and was never outwardly mean to him. She was never overly nice to him, however, but that had more to do with how he treated her and her friends. He knew coming back this year that she was going to be Head Girl, and wanted to take the opportunity to make some amends for all the damaged he had caused her. It was slowly working, they were civil to each other, but this little trip back in time could either make or break everything that they had.

Draco opted just to ignore the comments on him being a bully and just address the subject at hand. "It is a daunting task, which is why we shouldn't wait around here all day, by the way, do you have any idea what day that it is?" He tapped her leg to get her up and to move. The electricity that went through him was so fast but so pleasant that he didn't know if it had happened.

She looked at his hand then her leg, then back to him. She climbed off the bed and went to the clock that was sitting area. "It is Saturday, April 13, 1912." She walked without another word into the loo to get herself ready.

Draco took a seat on the couch and waited for her. When she rejoined him, he asked, "So princess how are we going to get a change of clothes?"

"Don't call me princess Malfoy!" she snapped. "We are just going to have to sneak into a room and borrow some of theirs. We have to hurry because we don't want anyone seeing us in these clothes."

Draco liked it when she was a bit feisty; he always knew her to be bossy, but when you know what you are doing you have the right to be bossy. "Right that whole sore thumb thing. So then let's go."

The two of them entered the empty hallway. Reaching a room Hermione turned to him and said "we are going to need two-day outfits and two evening. However, you could make do with just one evening since it is a tuxedo. Hopefully, we will be able to leave by tomorrow afternoon. Ready?" Draco nodded, and Hermione knocked on the door. Waiting a minute satisfied that no-one was in there she jimmied the lock. Quickly and quietly they entered. This room was grander than theirs.

Hermione went over to the wardrobe the owners certainly wouldn't notice a few articles of clothing missing since there were clearly over fifty dresses in this wardrobe alone. She glanced at her options and begun to pull out some clothing for herself. Her first-day pick was a pink floor-length dress with delicate flowers embroidered all over it. The next was tea length, again pink, but this one had lavender lace embroidery all over it. Her first evening selection was a burgundy lace dress with cap sleeves nothing overly special. Her final selection was this gorgeous vine green floral lace dress embellished with shimmering beads and sequins. The sleeves were sheer cap sleeves with a sheer neckline the waist tie was a sequin embellished satin to accentuate the feminine silhouette. The dress was finished with a pretty scalloped hem and cuffs. Usually, she wasn't attracted to green, but this dress almost called to her.

Then she grabbed a pair of beige and black shoes to go with them all.

Draco while he had an easier time picking out clothing since it was all just suits, was a bit shocked at how modern they looked. He grabbed a gray and a navy suit, and then a formal black suit for dinner. He grabbed black shoes "are you through picking clothes out?" he called over to Hermione.

"Yes. Let's go back to our room and change." They opened the door and heard voices coming down the hallway. "Oh, Merlin we will never make it back without being seen. We'll have to get changed here and then bring the rest to our room." She said as she closed the door.

"Alright then" Draco began to undress.

"You're going to change in front of me?"

"Seriously! It's no big deal, Granger, if you're so nervous go behind that curtain and change there. The more time we argue about this, the more likely we are going to get caught. Hurry up!"

She went behind the changing curtain and began to change her clothes. "Hey, I have a question" she heard his voice call over.

"Yes?"

He paused for a moment as if he was trying to form how he wanted to ask the question "I guess, it is more of a statement/observation rather than a question…"

"What is it?" she asked through gritted teeth as she stepped into the dress.

"Well I can't help but notice how the suit that I am wearing seems almost the same as a suit today, well from our time, in a muggle store, it's just a bit looser fitting. While wizard robes were and are so archaic, these clothes are so I don't know much more progressive. I just never realized how forward thinking muggles were/are since they don't have magic." He went silent as he finished buttoning his gray jacket.

Hermione took in what he said, it was true, she knew it because of how she was born and raised. For the first part of her life muggle way of life was all she knew. When Hermione first entered the wizarding world, no one who was there to help her understand it. She dived into books, books had always been her friends. It was how she learned what to do in the crazy new world that she was put into. Hermione also knew that while Malfoy no longer considered muggles wrong people, he still didn't understand them, and this was a start to his understanding. Thinking about their argument the night before she realized that she actually wanted to help him figure out muggle way of life. Though not knowing exactly how to respond to his statement she didn't. She reached behind her back and began to button the dress, when she arrived half way up her back she couldn't reach anymore "dammit!"

Draco, who had been looking at himself in the mirror, turned to her "are you ok?"

She huffed "Yes. I just…I can't get these last few buttons" she sighed.

"Hold on I'll help you." He walked behind the curtain not prepared for what the sight of her would do to him. The pale pink of the dress made her pale skin glow. It was so form fitting he could see all her curves that he didn't she even had since all she wore were the loose Hogwarts robes or bulky muggle sweatshirts. He hadn't meant to stare at her for as long as he had, even though it was only for the most ten seconds. He shook his head slightly to refocus "umm turn around so I can finish buttoning you up so we can get out of here."

Hermione did as she was told. Her body tingled in a new way when his hands came in contact with her back. His hands were warm, and his thin fingers nimbly button the dress in no time at all. "All set" he whispered as he briefly touched her shoulders when he was done. As quickly as he placed them, he removed them.

Hermione shivered at his touch. "Thanks" she whispered back as she turned to face him. Both stared at each other not sure what had just happened. Draco was the one who spoke first "let's get out of here before we get caught."

Hermione only nodded. She gathered 'her' clothing and went to the door, Draco right behind her. Opening the door again they saw the corridor empty, quickly they went back to their room and dropped off the rest of their things.

"Just so you know Granger, I am hungry, and if we don't get food soon I think I might lose it," Draco said coolly. He wanted to forget how she had made him feel back in the other room. Hermione rolled her eyes "I'm hungry too Malfoy. It's not all about you, I have to put my hair up, and then we can go to the dining room."

"Why do you need to put your hair up? For Salazar's sake Granger, I haven't eaten in" Draco took a moment to do the math out, "in at least 20 hours. I am thin enough as it is, cant we just get some food."

She sat at the vanity in the room and glared at her hair. Staring at him through the mirror she replied "during the Edwardian period it was customary for girls/woman over the age of 17 to wear their hair up. It wasn't respectable for a lady to wear their hair down. Now please let me do this."

She realized something about herself quickly back in her second year that she was inept at doing her hair. She tried so hard to do her hair in lovely braids, anything really and she could never do it without the help of magic. They only thing she could do was to throw it into a bun. She never cared for how this looked, even though Harry had once told her she looked rather beautiful when her hair was like that. As she stared at herself in the vanity, thinking of the acceptable hairstyles and her skill level she knew that a bun was her only option. However, Hermione figured she would make it more like a chignon and have it sit flat on her neck. She took the hair tie off her wrist and whipped her hair into place. "The best it's going to be," Hermione said out loud, but to herself.

Draco wasn't paying attention to her until she spoke out loud. His eyes widened at her sight; she had no idea how beautiful she was. Her hair was in a simple bun, not a perfect one but perfect for her. A bit of her hair in the front had fallen into her face, which made Draco want to push them back so he could see her whole face. He forced himself not to do so. He instead cleared his throat to bring her out of her thoughts.

She snapped back and looked at him "Oh I'm sorry I was just thinking. Are you ready to get something to eat?"

"I've been ready Granger." Standing from where he sat to wait for her went to the door and held it open for her.

They entered the dining room and looked around for a seat. "Where are we supposed to sit?" He whispered to her. She hadn't thought about that, by now people have been on here for three days, and they would have already been eating with the same individuals. She and Draco are going to be noticed that they aren't supposed to be here.

"Umm…," She whispered back.

Suddenly an unknown voice spoke to them "haven't seen you two before. Where have you been hiding?" Both Hermione and Draco turned to the source of the voice, which belonged to a young man who stood with his wife, the other couple couldn't have been a year older than herself and Draco.

Neither knowing what to say the stranger continued to talk chuckling he said "let me introduce myself. I'm Daniel Warner Marvin, and this is my wife Mary" he stuck his hand out for Draco to take it. Draco looked at him for a second then took the outstretched hand "pleasure to meet you. I'm Draco Malfoy, and this is my…wife Hermione." She looked at him shocked but looked back at the Marvin's and smiled.

"It's a pleasure to meet the two of you. We thought we were the youngest couple on board, so it is a pleasant surprise to run into you. Why haven't we seen you before, though?" Daniel Marvin asked.

"We just got married recently, so we have been spending the time on ourselves. However, we felt it was time to take in all this grand ship has to offer us" Draco spewed the lie out so easily. Hermione didn't know whether to be impressed or disgusted.

"Well you must join us for lunch" Mary insisted. Hermione could tell by her accent that she was from Edinburgh, Scotland. Daniel was American that much she knew, but she had limited knowledge of America, only visiting Florida once when she was very young with her family, so she couldn't place exactly where he was from.

"We'd love to join you," Hermione said, realizing that it was her turn to talk. "Wonderful," Daniel said. He took Mary's arm and led her to a table. Draco copied Daniels actions and took Hermione's arm. "I'm your wife?" she whispered to him as they walked behind the Marvin's.

"What else was I supposed to say? That we're just school chums? Or better yet that we are from the future and we are here to find a wizard who was banished so he can send us back to our present day! Just be grateful alright" he sternly whispered to her. They reached the table, and Draco pulled out Hermione's chair for her, she murmured a thank you as he sat.

"So tell us about yourselves. Where are you from? What do you do for a living?" Daniel inquired.

"Well, Hermione here is from right outside of London, my family is from Wiltshire. We met while we were at school" Draco tried only to lie when he had too. "As for a living…" Draco paused for a moment reflecting on how the mighty Malfoy family had fallen, and he was going to have to bring it back to its glory. My family has had their hands in many businesses public and private throughout Britain for many generations, and I will one day take over, but right now I'm enjoying traveling with my beautiful bride" Draco raised his glass towards Hermione, who was blushing. "How about yourself Daniel?"

"Born and raised in New York, I met my lovely Mary and were married back in January. Like yourself, we have been traveling and were on our way home to New York."

The conversation at lunch was light and friendly, and Hermione liked Mary, they shared similar interests such as reading for hours, "Hermione you must join me in the sitting room; the book selection is grand. We can let the men do whatever they want." Mary insisted.

Hermione eyed Draco, who was enthralled with talking to Daniel "I'm not sure whether Draco had plans for us." She tapped Draco's arm getting his attention "darling" she said with only a slight struggle which surprised her "Mary has invited me to go to the sitting room with her which is the ship's library, but what do we have planned for today?" She tried to convey with her eyes to say yes they had plans so they could spend their time looking for Crockford. However, Draco didn't take the hint.

Draco liked it when she called him darling smiled at her "that's wonderful sweetheart because Daniel has just challenged me to a game of squash."

Hermione smiled back with gritted teeth "but Draco dear you haven't played in quite awhile do you even remember how to play?" Why on earth would he accept to play squash? He doesn't even know how to play squash! Let alone have a squash outfit. He needs to get a grip on his competitive side, Hermione thought.

Draco frowned at her "of course I remember how to play." As if reading her mind he added "I explained that to Daniel, that it has been quite a while since I've played. I've also explained that I don't have my squash outfit, and he has offered to loan me one of his. We will meet up after mine and Daniels game in our cabin; I know that you wanted to spend some more time together…"

Mary interrupted their conversation "oh great! Let's go right after we are done here." With a look of annoyance at Draco, Hermione smiled. Usually, she would love just to sit and read books, but they were on a mission.

"Sounds fantastic Mary."

Lunch ended, and the couples separated not before speaking to each other first "Draco we have to Crockford before it is too late!" Hermione hissed at him.

"I understand that Hermione, but we can't be rude, and we have to fit in. This whole thing is your fault I'm just trying my best to not get caught. By the way, don't ever question my ability to play a sport, or my competitiveness" Draco looked at her with his steel gray eyes and saw her eyes began to fill with tears at the reminder of this all being her fault. He sighed and told her quietly "I promise I'll be back as soon as I can" to add an effect that they were married he kissed her cheek before walking away with Daniel.

She touched her cheek; it was still warm. Forgetting that he had once again reminded her that she was to blame for everything, only focusing on how he really was trying.

"You are lucky Hermione; Draco seems like a wonderful husband" Mary observed.

Hermione didn't respond right away then said as more of a question and answer to herself than to Mary "he is isn't he?"

Mary took Hermione's arm and led her to the ships reading and writing room.

"Draco is an interesting name, what is the origin?" Mary asked Hermione.

"It means dragon; it's a tradition in his family that the children be named after constellations" Hermione replied.

"That's different, sweet but different. Are you and Draco going to keep up the tradition when you two have children?" The question threw Hermione for a minute; the thought of her and Draco having children was crazy to her, but Mary believed they were married, so it was natural for her to think along those lines. "Well, we haven't discussed the topic of children yet."

"Well, when you do I think you should continue the tradition," Mary stated her opinion. Once they were at their destination, Mary explained to Hermione "I have never seen a book selection quite like this on any other ship."

"What is your favorite?" Hermione asked. Mary thought for a moment "I enjoy a good mystery, but I also enjoy a beautiful romance now and then. How about yourself?"

"Same, even though recently I have been reading non-fiction books, but I have always enjoyed Jane Austen and her works."

"I'm sure that I have seen Pride & Prejudice here. You should find it and read it" Mary beamed. "That one is my favorite; the two main characters think they are so different and have mixed ideas on what the other is truly like as a person. In the end, they find out how wrong they were and fall in love." Mary was reminiscing on the story in her head.

Hermione smiled, "I agree, I've read it before when I was younger, and it is a real classic."

Mary led her into the room; it was very nice plenty of furniture to sit, and she saw two of the four walls with bookshelves. She was thoroughly impressed.

She and Mary had selected their books and fell into a comfortable silence. Hermione wasn't reading but thinking. How were they going to find Crockford? The more time they were here, the less she remembered why she wanted to find him in the first place. And what about Draco? She couldn't get him off her mind; she never noticed him the way she has been. Hermione had always thought that he was handsome, that's a fact that can't be denied by anyone, but since the beginning of the school year, she has seen a softer side to him. When he touched her leg this morning, she felt a spark, which she felt again when he kissed her cheek. What did it all mean? She did not like not knowing. Hermione pushed the thoughts of Draco out of her mind and focused more on the task at hand which is finding Crockford, getting the information she wanted, which was to see what he had discovered and why he did it, finally having Crockford send herself and Draco back to their present time.

She mulled in her thoughts for a few more minutes then a thought occurred to her; Hermione looked over at Mary; maybe she had heard of William Clarke, which was Crockford's muggle name. It won't hurt to ask; they needed to start somewhere. Hermione cleared her throat to get Mary's attention "Yes Hermione?"

Pausing for a moment thinking about how she should ask, she decided to just be direct. "I was wondering if you have ever heard of a man on board named William Clarke" Hermione asked.

Mary furrowed her brow "the name sounds vaguely familiar. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, he was a friend of Draco's family, his father mostly" she shuddered at even the slightest thought of Lucius but had to think of something to tell her. "And he had let Draco know that Mr. Clarke was also going to be on board. Draco's father suggested to us that we should call upon him. However, he forgot to mention which cabin Mr. Clarke was going to be in." Hermione was pleased with herself for coming up with a lie and not blushing through it.

Mary nodded in understanding and thought again, her face lit up "that's why the name was familiar, we sat with him for dinner the other night. I believe he was a scientist correct?"

Hermione grasped her hands together in joy "yes, he is." What luck to have this form of questioning actually pan out.

Mary smiled "he wasn't very talkative, but what a small world to know that the person we sat with is friends with you and Draco."

"I find the world is smaller than we even realize" Hermione muttered. She was so excited to have something tangible to hold onto knowing that the possibility and the reality of meeting Crockford was so close. "Oh, I'm so glad that we might actually be able to meet him. Thanks for your help Mary."

"It was honestly nothing, other than my memory" she smiled. Mary looked at the clock on the mantle the time was 2:00. "I wonder if our men are done with their game. We should get back and see, but I do hope you will join us again for dinner. It is so nice to have another young couple to endure the trip with. Most of the others on board are either timeworn or are on board with their children, makes conversations incredibly dull."

"We'd love to join you for dinner. I'm glad we've met, it does make the trip more enjoyable." Hermione grinned, "I'll see you later Mary." Hermione separated from her as she went back to her and Draco's room.

When she opened the door, she found Draco sleeping, not sure what came over her, but she bent over and kissed his cheek. He began to stir "Hermione?"

"Yes. Who else would it be? How was a squash?" She asked as she sat on the bed next to him.

He groaned "it is quite possibly the dumbest game ever invented. You bounce a ball back and forth on a wall for what seems like forever! But after we were done with the match Daniel showed me the Turkish baths which were rather luxurious. How was your day?" he asked as he sat up on the bed.

Hermione smirked "your rotten attitude must mean that you lost to Daniel. Squash is one of the most popular game in England, next to football of course. This will show you not to let your competitive side get the better of you."

Draco glared at her "I don't have a rotten attitude, yes I lost but only by two points, I played rather well for never having played this ridiculous muggle game. I don't care that it is the most popular game in England, I don't even care if it is the most popular game in the entire world, doesn't change the fact that it is pointless and not a real sport. Now I ask you again how was your day?"

Hermione shook her head "it was very nice. I asked Mary if she had heard of Crockford, well William Clarke, and she has. They had dinner with him the other night. I had to come up with a small fib to tell her why I was asking; but isn't it wonderful that he is in first class as well. Hopefully, we can meet him at dinner tonight."

"The Gryffindor Princess telling a lie! I am shocked" Draco teased.

"I thought I told you not to call me a princess" she snapped back. "Besides it was the only way to get the information that I needed, it's not like it was my first time telling a lie."

"So what did you tell her?"

Hermione wrinkled her nose before continuing, now unsure how Draco would take her white lie "I said he was a friend of your fathers and that your father told us that Crockford was going to be on board and to call upon him."

Draco sat straighter on the bed "you used my father as the reason? Merlin Hermione why?"

"It's not like anyone here knows what type of person that he is. I didn't even…"

Draco stood up "well I do. I don't want you to ever mention his name again. The pain he has caused is unforgivable."

"But I…." she began to sputter. She wanted to him to understand that she didn't even mention Lucius by name, only in the sense of him being Draco's father.

Draco leaned in close to her face which frightened her and bluntly whispered "I don't want you ever to spew his name out of your mouth again. Understand?"

Hermione blinked back tears "yes I get it."

Draco quickly realized he might have gone a little too far, but it had to be said. Lucius Malfoy was a monster, and what he had done to Hermione well, Draco couldn't allow her to say even innocently his name. He rubbed the back of his neck to calm himself down, after a few deep breaths, he looked at Hermione again who was shaking, and had soft tears fall her face. He hadn't intended to make her cry. "Hermione I'm sorry. I just…. Well, my father doesn't deserve to have someone as good and beautiful and wonderful as you say his name. Since you already told Mary that Crockford was a friend of my father's, I'll say his name, not you ok?" He returned to his seat next to her on the bed and unconsciously wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned into his shoulder.

Hermione didn't respond. She leaned in closer to him and softly cried. It surprised her that the person who had made her cry was the one who was consoling her. Draco rubbed her shoulder and whispering "Shhh I'm sorry. Shhh".

Finally able to speak she looked up at his face and he looked genuinely upset that he made her cry. "I didn't use your father as an excuse because I wanted to remember him; I needed something to sound believable. I didn't even use his name! I used the idea of him. I just… I just can't believe you would be so mad at me" she choked back a sob. "You didn't even let me explain, you just got so mad. I thought Slytherins weren't supposed to lose their tempers at the drop of a hat. You didn't even let me explain" she repeated again.

"I realize that now and I truly am sorry. Like I said though what he did to you… I just can't even allow him in any form to cross your mind. Please forgive me for my behavior" Draco softly said.

Hermione realized that he got so mad at her not because of what she did, but what his father did to her. She smiled and nodded. "I forgive you this time. Just don't be a stupid git anymore."

He smiled in relief "promise. So what do you want to do now?" There was still a few hours before they had to change for dinner and since they knew that Crockford was going to be at dinner they didn't need to track him down. They both were relieved about that since neither really had any idea on how they were going to do that in the first place.

"We could go for a walk around the promenade" Hermione suggested. Draco's face of annoyance made her suggest "Or we could always explore if you don't want to go for a walk."

"Walking in circles is boring, let's explore."

Hermione couldn't help but giggle; Draco sounded like a child, carefree and inquisitive. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing" she stifled her giggles.

Once in the hallway, Draco took her arm and asked: "where too?"

"Why is it up to me?"

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose "that is because you are the one who knows where we are and everything about this ship. You get to pick on where we start."

Hermione was used to being the brains of the operation not so much the leader, so it was surprising for her to be in charge; however a welcome surprise.

"We should just start walking and see where it takes us."

They smiled at each other and began their exploration.


	4. Chapter 4

The pair walked in the direction of a staircase. They didn't have a destination in mind they would just walk around and see where they could go.

Descending the stairs, Draco chuckled to himself.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"It's nothing. I just thought that while it only happens at Hogwarts, it is nice to know that these won't move on us, and we don't have to wait twenty minutes for them to come back again."

She chuckled too "It's true I guess. Those stairs are perhaps my least favorite thing about Hogwarts."

"That's the only thing that you don't like about school? I could name a few things that I don't like more than the stairs moving."

Hermione shrugged being slightly sarcastic "Well I'm not sure you've ever noticed that I quite like school and learning, and I hate being late for classes. I think Snape knew that so he always made the lesson go over by five minutes, in turn by the time I got to my next class I was nearly two minutes late. I was lucky that I never got detention."

Draco looked at her then turned away and began to laugh. She looked at him with a frown "Mind telling me what is so funny."

"Just thinking of Snape. Now that you mention him doing that, I remember back in the sixth year when you would get so antsy repeatedly looking at the clock. I thought that you were going to go somewhere stupid with Potter and Weasely before the next class started, I now realize that you didn't know the shortcuts to avoid those stupid stairs between potions in the dungeon and charms on the fourth floor." Draco smiled smugly to himself; he finally had knowledge of something that Hermione didn't know that didn't involve the dark arts.

"Shortcut! How was it not on the map? Did Harry know about it and not tell me?" She was rambling now "I always couldn't figure out how you got there first when you clearly left after me. That is so unfair" she huffed as they continued down the stairs.

Draco didn't say anything; he just kept the smug smile on his face. Then he registered what she said about a map "What map?"

Hermione bit her lip thinking of something to say, she didn't know if she could tell him about the Mauraders Map, was it her secret to tell?. It wasn't like she had possession of it so even if she did tell him about it, he couldn't use it.

She opted for a simple explanation of what it was rather than who made the map. "Back in our third year Fred and George had given Harry a magical map of Hogwarts. They had been using it to help them with pranks. On the map, you can see where everyone is and what they are doing along with all secret passageways. There are hundreds some leading into Hogsmeade. It just seems surprising to me that the secret passage from potions to charms isn't on the map. Though the creators of the map didn't spend their time near the Slytherin dungeons."

"This map saw everyone? Did you ever see me?" Draco asked. "Seems like an invasion of privacy."

"Yes the map sees everyone, yes we did see you on the map, and it was more to make sure there were no professors around when we were sneaking around. Before you begin to gloat yes I admit it, Harry, Ron and I broke a lot of rules, we were always out passed curfew, but we were doing everything for the greater good."

Hermione wasn't about to tell him that Harry was obsessed with him during their sixth year and watched him on the map regularly.

They walked in silence till they got to f-deck. Draco showed her the Turkish baths that Daniel had taken him earlier along with the squash court. They passed the swimming pool.

"We should come back here tonight and go for a swim" Draco teased wiggling his eyebrows. "Maybe do a little bit of skinny dipping."

Hermione snickered "No thanks. Have you ever even been skinny dipping?"

He looked down ashamed "No, unfortunately. We were, I say we I mean myself and Daphne Greengrass, we were supposed to at her summer house which has this massive pool, but we were caught when her parents came home early from their holiday in Athens to surprise her and her sister Astoria." He smirked at the memory, "I only had on my boxers and her father was chasing me all over the garden yelling at me for trying to 'deflower' his precious daughter. Little did he know she had already been 'deflowered' a year and a half before by Theodore Nott! I can't imagine that you ever been skinny dipping" he said smugly.

Hermione despite herself frowned at the mention of him being almost naked with Daphne. She composed herself quickly, though.

"I have been if you must know" she replied.

"No way! There is no way that you Hermione Granger has ever done something that I haven't!"

"Well I am sorry to burst your bubble of what you think of me, but it's the truth I have been."

"Burst your bubble?" Draco frowned.

Hermione rolled her eyes, she had done it again "that's another muggle idiom, means to shatter someone's illusions."

Draco nodded in understanding, but he was stunned. He would have bet his entire vault at Gringotts that she had never done anything like that.

"Besides you already knew I broke a lot of rules. Why is this such a shock?" she asked breaking his thoughts.

"Simple really, you are a Gryffindor, fighting for right, and just things so having you sneak out after curfew to save the world not shocking. You, Hermione Granger doing anything sexual is out of character. It's just not something I thought you'd ever do."

Hermione stopped walking "You don't see me as a sexual being?"

"That's not what I said" Draco defended.

"Yes, it is. You said that having me do something sexual was so out of character. That I Hermione Granger could never do anything like that. I might as well be a nun _'get thee to a nunnery.'_ " Hermione quoted Shakespeare.

Her face red she had never been so offended. She didn't care that people thought her a know-it-all, even being a muggle born, that is who she is. She knew she wasn't the girliest girl in the world, she didn't care about fashion or makeup. But to have someone tell her that she wasn't viewed as even a woman with desire just this smart shell of a person was the most hurtful thing.

"Look, Hermione, I'm sorry. You know me I speak before my brain tells me to shut up. I didn't mean to say that you aren't a sexual being, of course, you are I just have never seen this side of you. So it is a shock to me to see you as someone who has those sort of feelings for someone else.

Hermione only shrugged, still too mad to actually talk to him. Though Draco correctly took it as accepting his apology.

"Let's play a game," Draco said after five minutes of silence.

"Seriously? Why can't we just hold a regular conversation?" Hermione wasn't one to play games; there was usually always more important or better things to be doing, like catching up on your studies. Further, whenever she had played games with Ron or Harry, they always teamed up with her, so it wasn't very enjoyable.

He huffed and rolled his eyes "Couple reasons first we have been walking in silence for five minutes, so we're not even having a conversation. Second because games are fun and can lead to 'normal' conversations. Come on."

"What game are you thinking?"

He smirked "truth or dare."

She groaned and rolled her eyes "So juvenile."

"Well excuse me for still being a juvenile. I just figured it would be a good way to get to know each other even better than we already do." He argued back.

She glared at him finally caving "Fine! But no dares, we don't know what is behind certain doors, and the customs here are very different than in our present."

"Alright then, we'll call the game truth or truth. We each get to ask the other a truth question, and we have to answer honestly. We can ask sub-questions off of the replies that are giving" Draco came up with the rules.

Hermione agreed but made sure to add an amendment "Sounds fair, but my amendment to those rules would be that we can't laugh at the other person's answers."

"Whatever ok. Are you ready to play?" Draco asked impatiently.

"As ready as I'll ever be" she replied.

"Great I'll ask first" he smirked down at her. She had a sneaky suspicion that she was going to regret playing this game.

"First question… when did you go skinny dipping?" Draco was curious and also hoped that by him showing interest, Hermione would really forgive him for the whole not 'doing anything sexual' comment.

Hermione closed her eyes and shook her head. She sighed and began to tell the story that she had never told anyone before, not even her best friend, Ginny.

"It was during the summer holiday after our fifth year. My parents and I were on holiday in Sardinia for two weeks during the month of July. I usually stayed with my family in July and then I would go to the Weasleys during the month of August, and we would all go back to school together" she unnecessarily explained. Hermione continued "While there we had met this local family who had invited us to their house for a party.

"At the party, I met this handsome older boy; he was twenty or twenty-one while I was almost seventeen. We were talking and drinking wine the whole night. It was nice; I was my own person. No one knew me as Harry Potters best friend, the brightest witch of our age, a muggle-born, or as a member of Dumbledore's Army fighting for her life in the wizard world. I was just Hermione, talking to a cute boy on holiday with her family.

" Around 11:30 my parents left to go back to the hotel, they let me stay since I was having fun when one o'clock rolled around he invited me to go back to his parent's villa. It was beyond gorgeous! Had a breathtaking view of the ocean, its pool, I can't even describe how amazing it was. His parents were away visiting family in America, so he was at the party as a sort of ambassador for his family. Again we were at his parent's villa; we were kissing while we were hanging out by the pool.

"I think it was all the wine that I had drunk, but I was the first to take off my clothes and jump in. He quickly followed suit and jumped in after me. But there it is that's my skinny dipping story."

Draco took it all in; his emotions were a mix of amazement, anger, and surprising him, jealousy.

"Are you going to say something?" she inquired, she wondered why he wasn't saying anything. When he did, she wasn't expecting what he said.

"How could your parents allow you to stay with a guy who is so much older than you? You were only seventeen, not even!" Draco was so angry at something that happened nearly two years ago. "I just can't believe you would take off your clothes for a complete stranger, and you wouldn't even get changed in front of me…" he mumbled to himself.

"Merlin, I certainly didn't expect this reaction from you."

"Well… You could've gotten hurt."

"Lighten up it was two years ago!" She didn't notice the sound of concern in his voice.

"Right after I jumped in, the cold water sobered me up. I quickly climbed out of the pool, grabbed a towel off the chair wrapped it around myself and ran until I found an alley to get redressed and make my way back to my family's hotel. I have never seen or heard from Italian guy again."

Draco was still fuming over how careless she had been. He also didn't like the fact that he was jealous of the nameless Italian guy who was able to see her naked.

Hermione shrugged and rolled her eyes "It is my turn to ask you a question."

"Go ahead" Draco welcomed the change of subject.

"Ok let's see…" she ponders for a moment "Who was your strangest crush?"

"Pssh easy, Helena Ravenclaw," Draco said nonchalantly.

Hermione raised an eyebrow "The gray lady? She's a ghost, and she's crazy."

"First of all, you asked for my strangest crush, and liking a ghost qualifies as strange and second she's a babe," Draco said pointedly.

"I guess she is pretty." Hermione thought of the ghost woman with her tiny waist, long legs that go on for miles, and her straight luscious hair. Almost everything that Hermione was not.

Draco looked at her "Are you comparing yourself to a ghost?"

She quickly snapped out of her thoughts "What no!" _How could he possibly know what I was thinking?_ She thought to herself.

"Yes, you were! You're jealous of a ghost" Draco teased, his laughter is not being able to be contained.

"I thought I said we couldn't make fun of each other? Also to be jealous, you have to want what the other has and I most certainly didn't want you or your attention."

Draco smirked "I never said you were jealous of The Gray Lady because I had a crush on her, though now that I say it out loud it's not really a crush since I was never stupid enough to think of her as anything other than a ghost, I just thought that she was beautiful. You are the one who lept to the conclusion that I meant being liked by me.

Hermione felt her cheeks burn but fought through it "Well, you were jealous of an Italian guy who doesn't and never will have anything to do with you!" she threw back at him.

Caught off guard, he knew Hermione was a bit of a spitfire, but he wasn't truly expecting her to point that out.

He glared at her "Well, at least, the person I was jealous of is alive!" He knew the second he said it how lame and how truly revealing it was to his feelings for her it was. He brushed his right hand through his hair and took a deep breath "Let's just go back to the game."

"Agreed," she said. "It's your turn to ask me a question" she gestured towards Draco.

He had to know "Who was your first crush?"

Part of him hoped it might have been him when they first met back when they were eleven before she knew how much of a git he was, though after her last comment on not wanting him to like her Draco knew that it was more likely to have been Saint Potter or the weasel.

Hermione rolled her eyes "Seriously?"

"Yes seriously" he mocked, "Who was it Potter or the Weasel?"

"Don't call Ron the 'Weasel' and it was Ron" she shrugged.

His eyes widened "Weasley?" I would've guessed Potter."

"No. Well at one point I did like both of them. That was only during the first year. Then second to fifth year, I had a crush on just Ron."

"What happened in the sixth year? Who did you have a crush on then?" he asked.

She briefly had a crush on Malfoy himself; but she wasn't going to tell him that, especially since some of those feelings she thought she had buried a long time ago are beginning to resurface. And for that fact that he had been a bully to her since they met. She just couldn't help but find him attractive back then. She had blamed it on teenage hormones, but after getting to know him without his father's pure-blood ideals bearing down on him, he was quite an enjoyable person to be around. Though Hermione still thought that he was a git occasionally.

Hermione decided that she would tell him about her other crush she had in sixth year "Well what had happened was Ron had begun to date Lavender Brown and instead of feeling jealous and upset I felt" she stopped to think of the right word "I felt relieved I guess. It was so confusing for so long I wanted to be Ron's girlfriend and then when I wasn't the one he picked I was glad. Though we did try very briefly after the war. I wanted to make sure that I wasn't making the wrong decision by not giving him a chance. But we just didn't mesh. We are better off as friends."

Draco repeated, "So who did you like during sixth year?"

Hermione chuckled embarrassed "It's a bit embarrassing, but it was Neville."

Draco tugged her arm and stopped them, his gray eyes meeting her caramel "Longbottom? You had a crush on Neville Longbottom? That buffoon who couldn't remember anything?"

She tugged her arm out of his grasp "Yes, I did. He had come back to school so handsome I just couldn't help it. Neville is an amazing guy; he's sweet, smart in his own way, and he is very brave. However I realized that he is still Neville, and I was still me, so the crush quickly died out. After that I was busy, you know, saving the world I didn't have time for crushes anymore."

Draco only nodded and begun to walk again; Hermione shot him an annoyed glance that went unnoticed by him and sped up to catch up with him.

"It's your turn," he said once she was next to him again. They had begun the climb to D-deck.

Opting for a silly question, she asked "What is the best pickup line that you have ever used?".

Draco slowly turned to her placed his arm next to her blocking her from escape, leaned in close and whispered: "Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy." He stood back up with a smirk, and she shoved him but still had a smile on her face.

"You're so stupid. I asked for your best pick up line, not your lamest" Hermione joked.

"It works every time, though, I'd say that it's the best" Draco smirked.

"What is the naughtiest dream that you've ever had?" Draco asked before they could get sidetracked. He was sure that Hermione wasn't going to tell him this or he guessed that she never had one of those dreams. But after the whole fiasco earlier he didn't want to assume anything.

Since the beginning of the school year, Hermione had started to feel very comfortable around Draco, she had no qualms about telling him about her secrets, which frightened her slightly but on with the game she thought.

"Well, actually it's a recurring dream that I have had since I was 14. You see I am in my old dormitory at Hogwarts, and this faceless guy comes in pulls back the curtains on my bed. I am not scared I am rather intrigued. The faceless guy climbs on my bed and top of me, he rips off my nightgown and begins to kiss me. His lips are very soft and feel nice on my skin, but once he hits at about my collarbone, I wake up."

Draco shifted her dream was slightly a turn on for him; he pulled himself together before speaking "So has anything in it changed at all or is it the same?"

"Well sometimes my nightgown is different, or even my bedspread but overall it is the same. It's mornings after I have that dream I wake up feeling extra frustrated and bitchy if I'm honest" Hermione blushed. She couldn't figure out why she was telling Draco that.

"So you must have that dream all the time then because you are always frustrated, and bitchy" Draco playful jabbed her shoulder.

"Sod off" she shoved back lightly.

"Make me" he provoked, pushing her slightly back. Soon they were in a playful game of shove as they walked and laughed down a corridor.

Hermione leaned up against the wall to catch her breath from laughing. Draco stopped right in front of her, both breathing heavy as they looked at each other.

He said what she had wanted to say but didn't know how to "I feel so comfortable talking to you. It scares me a little bit."

Hermione nodded "I feel the same way. Does this mean that we are actual friends, not just roommates, and quasi-study buddies, but actual friends?"

Her bangs had fallen in her face again, and Draco tucked it behind her ear "Yeah, I guess it does mean that."

They stood there quietly looking into each other's eyes for another moment until Hermione broke the silence and asked "When was your first kiss?"

Draco turned and shook his head as he turned to continue walking. If Hermione wasn't mistaken, he seemed upset that she had broken their little moment.

Draco answered "I was seven, she was nine, my parents we are having their annual summer get together, she and I were in my garden, and we had seen our parents do it, so we didn't think much of it. It lasted a mere three seconds, but anyway I was seven." He was slightly proud of himself.

"That can't count! You didn't know what it was" Hermione disputed.

"It can and it does. I had my first kiss when I was seven but if it will make Your Honor Hermione happy my first kiss that I went out of my way to kiss a girl because I liked them was second-year Hogwarts."

"It does please me; you can't call a kiss at the age of seven your first time to kiss a girl when you don't know what it is."

"Whatever… it counts" Draco whispered but loud enough for Hermione to hear him. "When was your first kiss?"

Hermione shrugged indifferently "I was thirteen, and before you ask it who it was with the answer is Seamus, it was awkward and awful. It was during a game of spin the wand; I wanted so badly to have it land on Ron, but I think Seamus made it fall on him."

"My turn… time to get things a little more interesting," she smirked, "How would you describe your dream girl?"

Draco smirked back at her "Well my dream girl has to be smart! I don't care for it when girls try to dumb themselves down; it's infuriating. She also needs to have a sense of humor. Someone who will be a supportive best friend and someone I can rely on. A woman that I can lock eyes with across the room and we can share the same thought without sharing a word. A woman who has morals cares for other people, and someone you can count on no matter what the circumstance. Since I clearly don't care about others. Someone who doesn't get discouraged during trying times and finds the good in everything. She will be independent and can take care of herself but not be shy about asking for help should she need it."

Hermione listened carefully, and his description was very close to describing her. "Have you ever met a woman like that yet?"

Draco only shrugged "It's my turn, and since you delved deep into my psyche I can only return the favor. What is it that you look for in a man? Like what type of man do you see yourself marrying?" Draco glanced sideways at her; her brows were furrowed together in thought.

"Well… I want to be with a man who is kind, someone who can look past all my insecurities to make me realize how ridiculous they truly are. A man who understands my need to be alone sometimes; but never actually leaving me alone. A man who can make me smile when he walks into the room, despite if I am angry with him. A man who can make me laugh till my sides hurt even if I am the only one who thinks he is funny. I want to be with a man that it will feel like my heart would break in two if we were ever to be separated. I want… love" she wasn't even looking at anything just dreamily gazing as she listed off her dream man.

Draco couldn't believe she had any insecurities about herself still. She had accomplished so much that she had nothing to be insecure about. "What are your insecurities?" he asked softly.

Hermione shrugged "They are silly, but I can't shake the fear of failing. Nor can I ever actually feel comfortable in my skin. After being bullied for most of your life for being ugly, you begin to believe that it is true."

She knew Draco was thinking about himself being a bully to her "And no it didn't start with you and Pansy calling me names about my appearance, it started when I was still in Muggle School. I was always told that I was the ugly duckling, and I just don't believe that I've turned into the beautiful swan."

Draco took her hand "You have nothing to be insecure about. You are the smartest person that I know and are incapable of failing. As for your looks; you have become the beautiful swan."

Hermione was looking at the ground, Draco grabbed her chin so they could look eye to eye.

"Why would Krum ask you to the Yule Ball? Why else would Pansy be so jealous of you if you weren't one of the prettiest witches at Hogwarts? So please believe in yourself because I and plenty of others believe that you are beautiful and wonderful."

He once again turned to start walking, but he didn't let go of her hand.

Hermione was shocked, not expecting any of this to come from her former public enemy number one. In less than a few hours, Draco Malfoy had called her beautiful and wonderful twice. She had butterflies in her stomach, and her cheeks were tinted pink but was so happy to hear the words that she had always wanted to hear, and to her surprise from the person, she always wanted to hear those words from.

She leaned her head to rest on his shoulder as they walked "Thanks."

Draco leaned his head on hers for a moment and squeezed her hand.

Walking back in the direction of the Grand Stair Case they stayed hand in hand until they heard the clock on the stairs begin to chime. The time read five o'clock

"It's time for us to get changed for dinner," Hermione said.

Silently they walked back to their cabin. Once inside Draco and Hermione began to change into their borrowed evening clothes.

"I've meant to ask you, Hermione, do you know what is it like in the present?" Draco asked as he pulled up his dress pants.

Hermione was once again behind a dressing curtain "Well, it is still moving, just really slowly. This is not noticeable to anyone else, so when we return only a few hours will have passed. Despite us having been here for almost two days."

She knew she had to tell him the enviable; he had to know what the possibility of Crockford not sending them back meant.

"This ship is headed to America correct?" his voice echoed.

"Yes."

"So what was your plan if you didn't find Crockford? Were you just going to live your life out in America? Doesn't really seem like something that you would do."

Hermione gulped as she came out from behind the dressing curtain "I have to tell you something."

Draco looked over at her; her ensemble was a tight burgundy lace dress she looked stunning. Her face though was clearly upset. "What's wrong?"

"You know how I keep saying we need to find Crockford before it is too late? Well, we do have a time limit" she began to tell him.

"Do you mean we are going to disappear from existence if we don't go back?" He questioned.

"No, what I mean is that" Hermione takes a gulp and finally tells Draco what is actually going to happen.

"Titanic never makes it to America. Tomorrow night at 11:40 the ship is going to strike an iceberg. By 2:20 it will be at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Crockford dies in the tragedy along with fifteen hundred others. There was a slight possibility that if he didn't send me back that I would have been one of the ones to perish. If that didn't happen, then I would have gone to America and figure out what to do."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Draco growled.

Hermione shrunk into herself whispering "I didn't know how to tell you."

"So you were just not ever going to come back? How do you think I would have felt? Do you think I wouldn't have noticed that you weren't around anymore? AHHH!" he screamed into his hands. He rubbed his hands down his face trying to comprehend what Hermione had just thrust upon him.

Hermione trembled "I'm sorry, I just I don't know…I don't have any excuses to tell you."

Draco went over to where she was standing and took her hands in his pulling her close to him "I don't want your excuses, I want you alive, I want us at Hogwarts finishing our last year, I want to help us get back. I want…"

He leaned into her, she met him halfway, and closing her eyes she felt his soft lips graze her own. She slowly kissed him back. Time stood still; everything just felt it would be all right.

Gently they separated, still touching foreheads

"I would say sorry, but I'm not" he whispered.

"Don't be. I should be the one to apologize I should have told you the truth from the beginning" Hermione began to ramble.

"Yes, you should've," Draco said sternly.

Hermione started to hiccup with tears again.

Draco realized that being harsh with her wasn't going to help. He ran his hand through her hair and down her face hushing her. "We need to find Crockford so you can get your answers and then make him send us back. He will be in the dining hall, so that is where we need to be. Everything is going to work out. If we can survive Voldemort than we can survive this."

Hermione would never have thought in a million years that Draco Malfoy would be the one to calm her down, and then the one to help her in her time of need. She never thought that she would have real feelings for the Slytherin.

Hermione smiled and kissed his cheek "Thanks."

Taking his arm, they headed towards the first class dining room.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5

Upon entering the dining room, Hermione noticed Mary and Daniel at a table in the far back corner, tugging on Draco's arm; she led the way to the table.

Mary was the first to notice them.

"Hermione, Draco I am so pleased to have you join us. Look who it is, it's your father's friend Draco, Mr. William Clarke" Mary was pointing to the man sitting next to her at their circular table. Mary was triumphal with herself for being able to recognize Mr. Clarke in the Parisian Cafe and then ask him to join her and Daniel for dinner.

The man they had been searching for, the man formerly Wilford Clarke sat to the far right of Mary, diagonal to Daniel. He had gray hair, but with spots of his natural black hair. His eyes were a piercing green, which were hidden behind a pair of glasses.

He reminded Hermione of Harry and thought that is what Harry will look like when he reaches the age of sixty.

Clarke looked confused as he stared at Draco. "A friend of your fathers' boy? What is your family name?"

As they sat across from Clarke and next to the Marvin's, Hermione squeezed Draco's hand, as if telling him that everything will be all right. She kept repeating to herself mentally, and Draco glanced at her if he understood what she was thinking.

Draco cleared his throat he started out shaky, but as he kept talking, he grew with confidence in saying his name. "Yes you see well we've never met before Sir, I believe you had a falling out with my family. My name is Draco Malfoy, and this is my wife, Hermione." Draco turned and smiled softly at Hermione, who smiled a nervous smile back.

Clarke visibly shifted uncomfortably, but pulled it together not to cause a scene in front of the muggles at the table. "Malfoy yes I haven't heard that name in quite some time. What may I ask are you doing here?"

Visibly unsure on why there would be wizards here since they had their form of transportation across the Atlantic.

Before either Draco or Hermione could answer Mary did for them "You see Mr. Clarke, Draco, and Hermione are on their honeymoon and are traveling to America" she smiled at the faux couple.

Clarke turned towards Draco and Hermione wide-eyed. "Is that so? My dear, you must be _pure_ of heart to marry such a man as Mr. Malfoy" Clarke said with disdain to Hermione.

She knew what he meant and saw Draco look away; again she squeezed his hand.

"Actually no I'm not Mr. Clarke, while our start was a bit rough since I come from a background that some elder Malfoy's found undesirable, you might say." Hermione turned to the Marvins and quickly explained "My family has always been forward thinkers, and my mother is part of the suffrage movement which my father encouraged. This was something that took the Malfoys some time to get comfortable with. I also had to come to terms with the fact that Draco had grown in a way very different than mine. "

Hermione rotated back towards Clarke "You see Draco, and I had to overcome so much and after all that we've been through we realized that trivial things were such a waste and decided to look deeper into each other."

As Hermione spoke, she realized that she wasn't lying. She and Draco had been through a lot, each facing their demons and coming out of the war alive and better people. Hermione took Draco's hand in her's and squeezed tightly.

"Draco here isn't like the rest of his family, he's a good man."

Clarke nodded in understanding though still apprehensive he bowed towards Draco "I see, well it has been awhile since I have spoken with your _father_ Mr. Malfoy, how were you aware that I was going to be on board?"

It almost felt like to Hermione and Draco that Clarke was trying purposefully to ruin their back story; they couldn't blame him though the wizarding world had been unkind to him, especially Malfoy's family.

"We started our honeymoon in the Highlands, and we were visiting a castle near Dufftown, where we read that you would also be on board Titanic. I told Hermione about your relationship with my family, and she insisted that we try to call upon you to make amends and reach an understanding." Draco explained, hoping Clarke understood what he meant.

Clarke's lips curved slightly up "Ah yes I am very familiar with that castle, I used to visit there as a boy. Are there still ravens all around? When I was younger, there used to be all over the place."

Hesitant to answer Draco and Hermione looked at each other before looking back at Clarke who winked at them.

His wink made the pair relax a bit more.

"Yes, plenty of ravens, badgers, and snakes still roam the area. You also see the occasional Mountain Lion, which happens to be my favorite" Hermione smiled.

It was fun to speak in a way only the three of them knew.

Hermione ever the Gryffindor jumped right into what she wanted.

The Gryffindor way leap before you look.

It was noticeable that Hermione was trying to contain her excitement "After Draco had told me who you were Mr. Clarke I became rather interested in learning about you and about your discovery. The whole concept is fascinating. Are you going to America to discuss it with the Americans?"

Draco watched Hermione interact with Clarke; she looked so happy, she looked as if the book she was reading had come to life in front of her. In a sense it had. Draco wanted to make sure she was that happy always. Draco couldn't help at smile at his faux bride.

Taken aback at Hermione's interested, Clarke choked on the appetizer he had begun to eat. He quickly drank, so water as everyone at the table looked at him with concern.

"Are you alright there Clarke?" Daniel said as he waved an usher over to refill Clarkes now empty water glass.

Coughing Clarke said "Yes I'm fine. Thank you. It's just that no one has asked me about that for almost ten years. I wasn't expecting you to have heard about it. That discovery as you call it almost ruined my career, in fact, it did. I had to move away from my home, friends, family everything that I have ever known, all because some people just couldn't accept the fact that certain blood isn't always the answer."

Clarke looked at the Marvins who were staring at him wide eyed and turned back to Hermione with a bitter smile. "So to answer your question yes, I am heading to America to see if they will take my discovery proposal seriously, unlike the British. The Americans seem to be more willing and open to new ideas wouldn't you agree Mr. Marvin?" Clarke seemed eager to change the subject.

Daniel heartedly agreed "Yes there is nothing an American likes more than new ideas and what it can mean for them. America is the place of dreams and accomplishments…."

Hermione and Draco zoned out what he was saying, neither cared about the so-called American dream.

"Do you think they will listen and accept it?" Hermione asked after Daniel was done talking.

Clarke set down his silverware, folded his hands and brought them to his chin "In all honesty, I fear I won't be able ever to tell them. It is something that will be lost with me forever."

The table sat quietly after this comment. Soon Daniel waved the notion away as it was senseless.

"Nonsense, Titanic is said to be the safest ship sailing the seas today. And you seem to be in perfect health, so wherever this journey is to take you, you will succeed."

Draco had to hold back from rolling his eyes over Daniels overzealous optimism.

Clarke smiled at Daniel, "Thank you son."

Hermione tried to bring up the topic again to no avail.

The rest of dinner was spent with small talk between everyone at the table. When Clarke wiped his mouth placing his napkin on his plate in front of him.

"I must be retiring now. Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy it was a pleasure meeting you."

He stood and Draco joined him in action. "You as well Mr. Clarke

Aware that Clarke was trying to escape from talking to them again Hermione pleaded with him "Please Mr. Clarke is it at all possible that we can meet again in a quieter setting? I do wish to speak with you some more."

Clarke undoubtedly wanted to be left alone, but after looking into Hermione's eyes he conceited. "Of course. You and Mr. Malfoy can meet me in my cabin for tea. Say around 3 o'clock?"

Hermione looked at Draco, who nodded, both were hoping to be home by then, but since Clarke was the key to that, they had to agree. "That sounds perfect, thank you so much."

Giving a curt nod, he left, leaving the faux Malfoys and the Marvin's at the table.

"Well isn't this great, you were able to see an old friend" Mary beamed.

Hermione who had been deep in thought smiled "Yes it is wonderful. I, I mean, we want to thank you, Mary, for making this whole evening possible, without your help we wouldn't know where to start."

"What by chance did he discover?" Daniel asked as he sipped his wine.

Draco looked at Hermione interested in what she had to say because this whole time he had yet to ask her why Clarke was even important to her, he was so focused on them going back.

Hermione dabbed her mouth with her napkin "Well according to what I have read he discovered a mutation in blood, a variation that could prove that people are more alike than some want to think. Unfortunately, some people still let their prejudices cloud real scientific proof, which is what happened to Mr. Clarke."

"Fascinating. It is a shame to see such good people not succeed because of prejudices in the world" Daniel said.

Draco made a mental note to ask her more in-depth on what it was he discovered.

Draco was pulled from his thoughts when Daniel asked him on whether he wanted to join him in the smoking room for a cigar and brandy.

"The offer is tempting Daniel, but the misses and I are going to go back to our suite and call it an early night."

To Hermione's chagrin, she caught Draco winking at Daniel to imply something else.

Daniel smirked in understanding "Well goodnight then. Hopefully, we will see you tomorrow."

Draco and Daniel shook hands and Hermione and Mary kissed each other's cheeks.

Draco had just shut their door when Hermione slapped him on the arm before storming further in the room to sit on the bed.

"Hey what was that for?" he asked as he rubbed his arm.

"Did you have to do that?" she said miffed.

Draco furrowed his brow he honestly had no idea what she was so mad about. Dinner had gone fairly well, they were going to speak to Clarke alone tomorrow, and they were so close to going home. What could she be mad about? "Do what?"

"I saw you give Daniel that wink after dinner. He now thinks we came back here to you know…" she sighed.

The infamous Malfoy smirk crept on his face "You mean have sex. Well, darling, we are a married couple and when two people like ourselves are in love we share that love in carnal exercise."

He had tried his damnedest not to laugh. He went over to her spot on the bed and reached down to grab Hermione by the waist and pull her up.

"Oh shove it Draco. It made me embarrassed. I don't like having my private life displayed like that" she pushed him away from her sitting once again on the bed.

"I apologize, honestly, but we need to make our marriage story believable. Besides it isn't like it's something either of us has never done before."

Taking a seat on the chair in the corner, Draco began to undress, starting with loosening his tie and unbuttoning his collar. Followed by taking off his shoes.

Hermione was biting her lip, and her hands were clasped tightly together placed on her lap. She was looking at the ground, this was one conversation that she never thought she would have with Draco or anyone. Fighting the urge to cry of the embarrassment of the situation.

Draco glanced up when Hermione didn't respond "You mean?"

Her head shot up "It isn't a crime, nor the worst thing in the world."

Draco cleared his throat and sputtered out "It's not."

Gaining his voice, again he continued "I just assumed that you had. Especially after the conversation this afternoon."

Noticing Hermione's angry glare Draco quickly added "Not that you look or act like a slag, you don't I swear, I just assumed that you had a least done it once. You were so angry when I assumed that you hadn't done anything I figured that you must have."

He moved to the bed and sat next to her, still keeping some distance between the two of them to not upset her even more.

"Well, I haven't. I was offended that you thought I wasn't capable of ever being in that situation."

Sniffling Hermione said, "I almost slept with someone, but I stopped it, a part of me think perhaps I shouldn't have. The other half is glad that we didn't do anything."

Draco could feel in the pit of his stomach a burning of jealousy of this person that has her so upset. He wanted to know who she almost slept with but was not about to push her into telling him.

"I know you want to know who."

Frowning Draco figured that it was just a logical conclusion due to curiosity not that she knew what he was thinking.

"I'm not going to sit here and say I am not curious to find out who this bloke was. It wasn't the Italian guy was it?" Draco couldn't explain why it was crucial to him that it wasn't the Italian.

Hermione scoffed "Merlin no. I told you what happened between him and me. Will you just forget him!"

Draco shrugged an apology.

"You don't have to tell me, only if you are comfortable, I don't want to make you upset. I've done that enough in our past and don't want to do it anymore. But who was this almost lover?" He joked to lighten the mood.

She chuckled "Almost lover."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before she began.

"Well it was during the war, I was at the Burrow."

Noticing his confused look explained, "That's what the Weasleys call their house. The house one night was surprisingly empty. Everyone was either at meetings for the Order while Molly, Fleur, and Ginny were trying their best to arrange Bill and Fleurs wedding.

"I just couldn't do it anymore, I was tired and wasn't sure if it was all for not. Despite Harry being the chosen one we rarely were able to go to Order meetings since we were deemed too young." She chuckled bitterly.

"The ones who had been fighting this war since they were eleven were too young. Ginny tried to have me go with them to plan the wedding, but I declined.

"Fred, one of the twins, could sense that I was upset offered to stay with me this particular night. This was post taking Harry from Privet Drive but pre going on the hunt for Horcruxes."

She smiled at the memory as she continued "He made me some tea, and we sat and talked for what felt like hours. He let me cry and express all my fears, not once did he make a joke. That must have been difficult for him.

"I explained how I was tired how there was so much evil in the world. How even people our own age were able to do such bad things. How they wouldn't go against the wrongdoing, they were a part of. At that moment it felt like we were never going to win the war. I was just lost."

Gulping and holding back anger to tell her that she was talking about him and all his wrong decisions. Draco moved slightly away from her. Was this what she thought of him? That he wanted to do everything he did? That it was easy for him?

Hermione didn't appear to notice Draco's change in demeanor went on with her story.

"Fred gently took my hand in his, then lifted my chin with his other so he could look me directly in the eyes and said confidently _'Hermione with people like you fighting there is no way we can't win the war.'_ "

Pausing Hermione glanced at Draco wondering when he moved so far from her. He had a scowl on his face, she didn't understand why but he nodded his head to indicate to keep telling the story.

"I'm the one who initiated the kiss. We eventually made it to Fred's bedroom. Each of us had removed our shirts, and soon all our clothes were gone except our undergarments; it was at that moment I realized what was about to happen. I rolled off the bed quickly and profusely apologized, grabbed my clothes and left.

"Fred wasn't even mad at me. He later came to me and said he understood why I acted like that. He figured I still loved Ron and didn't want to do anything that would ruin that. Which was partially true, I didn't want to ruin my friendship with Ron if I slept with his brother. But there was more to it. It didn't feel right.

"That feeling is what makes me feel even worse about the whole thing. Fred was such an amazing person, and now he's gone." She broke out into sobs.

Draco got over his bitterness of his past flaws in Hermione's eyes and quickly moved closer to her and took her in his arms "It's ok. You've done nothing to feel guilty about."

Hiccuping Hermione said "Now I have to live with this memory for the rest of my life, how could he be gone? How could it not feel right? Why did everything have to be so complicated?"

She cried, releasing all the pent up sadness that she wasn't even aware that she was holding on to.

Draco wrapped his arms around her tighter and softly said "It's alright shh, it's alright. Something in you knew that it wasn't right, and just imagine what if you did have sex with him, I'm sure that you would be feeling a hell of a lot worse than you are right now. When the time comes, you will feel it, and you will be happy with your decision."

Draco held her close; it hurt him to see her so upset.

It also frustrated him that he sounded like a right poof talking about their feelings. Glad that Hermione couldn't see him he roll his eyes at the circumstances since he was positive that she wouldn't understand that the action was directed at himself and not her. He leaned against the post of the bed and pulled her close to him again as she continued to cry into his chest.

A few minutes later Hermione calmed down. She pulled herself up from leaning on Draco's chest.

She sighed in content "I just want to say thanks for everything." She tilted her head up to his and gently kissed him.

Each paused for a moment staring at the other letting what the kiss had meant. Draco wasn't sure whether it was just a thank you kiss or if it was something more. Hermione wasn't sure why she did it, but it felt right.

"I'm going to run myself a bath," she said as she got up.

For the first time, Draco noticed that she had brought along a bag with her "What's in the bag?"

She looked at it "Oh just a few essentials, like a couple of pair of knickers, hairbrush, my shampoo. I didn't expect to be here for very long, but I wanted to be prepared."

Looking at Draco, she said "I'm sorry that I don't have anything for you since I didn't expect you to be here. I mean you can always borrow a pair of my knickers" she tried to muffle a laugh.

Draco let out a fake chuckle "Oh my yes you are funny, I'll be alright. If you don't want to put on your old clothes, you can wear my original shirt that I had on to sleep in. I'll just sleep in my boxers. If that's not a problem for you?"

"No that's fine, thank you." Blushing, she excused herself to the bathroom.

Filling the porcelain tub with hot water Hermione sank her body in.

Instantly feeling relaxed. Hermione tried to forget all of the worries and fears of the past, present, and the future.

However, in the back of her mind, the fear that Clarke would refuse to send them back to the present was still there.

Clarke had no reason to do it, either way, she and Draco meant nothing to the man. On the one hand, Clarke could not send them back for the mere fact that Draco is a Malfoy and to Clarke, they are still evil and letting one die will be some rewarding feeling. Clarke might also look down upon her for associating herself with Malfoy.

On that same hand, the wizarding world has given him nothing but trouble so why should he help two young wizards. However, on the contrary, Hermione hoped that after she adequately explained everything Clarke would realize how times have changed, and they were just trying to do good, so he had to send them back.

Dunking her head under the water, she pushed the thoughts out of her mind. There was not more that she could do and worrying was not going to help.

As she had gotten older, her hair had become less, bushy and curly, still both but it had tamed naturally like her mother always said it would. It also tamed with the constant use of hair potions and charms, to make it not so big.

Popping out of the water she wiped her eyes. Picked up the shampoo bottle that was sitting next to the tub. Opening it she took a whiff taking in the Lavender and chamomile scent that reminded her of Hogwarts, she missed it. Sighing she poured the shampoo into her hand and began to massage her scalp.

Once done Hermione rinsed herself with the attached shower head, now grateful that Draco had insisted going to a first class room since having a private bath, with shower, was divine.

Climbing out when she was done Hermione wrapped the towel around her body and walked to the sink.

For the first time since that morning, and after being called beautiful by Draco twice, she looked at herself in the mirror. Staring at her reflection, she still couldn't call herself beautiful, but she could begin to call herself pretty, which caused her to smile.

Placing her bag on the counter, she pulled out a pair of knickers, followed by face lotion, then her hairbrush. She rubbed her face with the lotion; the salty air was making its dryer than normal.

Following she began the task of brushing her hair. Hermione had learned to split her hair into sections and always start at the bottom. Her magical shampoo worked wonders at detangling and keeping her hair soft, but it could only do so much. Ten semi-painful minutes later her hair was all brushed. Hermione was not looking forward to what it was going to look like in the morning with it being dried naturally.

Finally ready to get dressed she put on her clean knickers. Looking around Hermione realized she had rushed so quickly into the bathroom she forgot Draco's shirt.

"Bollocks," she whispered.

Pulling the towel tighter around her, she opened the door "Excuse me? Draco? I forgot to grab your shirt before coming in here. Please get it for me."

Draco was lying on the bed in his boxers reading. When he heard his name, he looked up from his book to see a towel-clad Granger in the doorway of the bathroom.

The white towel she had on was wrapped very tight around her small frame. She held her arms crossed in front of her. Her hair still somewhat wet was hanging over her left shoulder. She looked both innocent and not. The slightly shy expression on her face, combined with her rosy cheeks made him a bit dizzy. Draco could only just stare at her.

Hermione called to him again getting impatient "Draco, please get me the shirt. I don't know where you put it or I would've grabbed it myself."

Hearing his named called again brought Draco out of his thoughts "Sorry. Right, here it is."

Rising from the bed he went to the dresser opened the first drawer and pulled out the shirt. Draco made his way to the bathroom door that she still occupied. Standing in front of her, he smelled the most pleasant scent of lavender and chamomile. He realized that it was her shampoo.

"Here you go," Draco murmured as he handed the shirt to Hermione.

"Thanks" Hermione replied. Being this close to Draco, in just a towel was making her feel things that she wasn't sure about.

"I'll be out in a moment" she hurriedly closed the door in his face.

Draco exhaled and went back to the bed. Grabbing his book, he began to read again.

He heard the bathroom door open a moment later like Hermione had said. His shirt hit her right below her bottom. Hermione was running the towel through her hair. Hermione appeared to be less shy now that she was dressed.

She looked irresistible to Draco at that moment, unbeknownst to him she was having similar thoughts about him when she saw him his boxers.

Feeling more comfortable now that she wasn't completely naked anymore Hermione exited the bathroom towel drying her hair a bit more so it would hopefully dry more evenly.

Draco moved closer to the wall so she could climb into the bed next to him.

"Thanks for letting me sleep in this," Hermione said, still drying her hair.

"You're welcome," Draco said.

While being in bed together had been awkward the night before, this evening it somehow it felt natural like they had been sharing a bed for ages.

"Where did that book come from?" Hermione asked as she tossed the towel on the floor.

"I didn't picture you as the type of person to just drop towels on the floor" Draco teased.

Hermione rolled her eyes "I'm glad I'm not as predictable as you might have thought. Now, what are you reading?"

While you were in the bath, I was bored, I decided to try to find something to read. So I ran up to the reading room and grab some books for us to read. Here."

Draco handed one that was next to him over to her, it was A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"What are you reading?" Hermione asked as she rubbed the cover of the book in her lap.

Pulling book slightly away from his body Draco flipped to the cover and read it out loud "A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle" he shrugged and went back to reading.

Hermione looked at the book in her hands and the one in his she began to frown.

"Wait a minute, how is it possible that you just happen to pick out books by two of the most famous muggle authors that ever lived in a mere ten minutes?"

Once again he closed the book, this time he added a sigh of frustration of being interrupted once again.

"You were in there close to forty minutes, not ten. It took me, twenty minutes to decide what to read. Though I will confess, I have heard of the two of them. Not these specific stories, just in general. Some of the Slytherins didn't care about blood purity and were able to enjoy muggle things and would tell others about them. I would always think them to be ignorant and didn't know what they were talking about. So I refused to read any of their works. But after everything I figured now would be a good time to give them a try. Have you read that before?"

She gently touched the book in her hand "Yes, it is actually one of my favorite comedies of William Shakespeare. Fun fact about myself, I was named after a character in one of his other plays the Winter Tale actually." she smiled.

"So this is a play, not a book" he didn't understand.

In her element, Hermione explained the works of Shakespeare to Draco.

"Correct. Shakespeare was a poet and a playwright, he has his sonnets, which are love poems. Then he has his plays that have been bound into books. Shakespeare's plays are split into three categories: tragedies, where almost everyone dies in the end, histories, based on real people and events; but artistic license is taken, then finally comedies, which are usually nonsense and all around fun. That is what this is." Hermione lifted the book to show what she was talking about.

"It's a Midsummers Night Dream, the plot is slightly confusing, it is set in ancient Greece and the main characters are two sets of couples. The couples separately plan to run away and elope with each other. When they enter the woods, they are put under a spell by a mischievous fairy named Puck to have them think the wrong person is their lover. It's pure chaos, and it's beautiful. Now for his sonnets, like I said they are customarily love poems. These don't have official titles, most publishers will use the first line of the sonnet as the title, so in general they are referred by the number. There are 154 sonnets altogether. One of my favorite sonnets is Sonnet 130."

Hermione began to recite Sonnet 130 closing her eyes feeling the words as she spoke them.

 _"_ _My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;_ _  
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;  
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;  
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.  
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,  
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;  
And in some perfumes is there more delight  
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.  
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know  
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;  
I grant I never saw a goddess go;  
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:  
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare  
As any she belied with false compare._

"Having a hard time following, what is he trying to say?" Draco asked.

"Well, Shakespeare is expressing his or rather the narrator's love to a woman who isn't necessarily beautiful. Here let me paraphrase it for you.

 _"_ _My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun;_

 _Coral is far more red than her lips;_

 _If snow is white, then her breasts are a brownish gray;_

 _If hairs are like wires, hers are black and not golden._

 _I have seen damask roses, red and white [streaked],_

 _But I do not see such colors in her cheeks;_

 _And some perfumes give more delight_

 _Than_ _the horrid breath of my mistress._

 _I love to hear her speak, but I know_

 _That music has a more pleasing sound._

 _I've never seen a goddess walk;_

 _But I know that my mistress walks only on the ground._

 _And yet I think my love as rare_

 _As any woman who has been misrepresented by ridiculous comparisons_

"Despite all her faults the narrator still finds her beautiful and loves her. It is a parody of the traditional love poem."

Draco nodded in understanding.

"Go back to this, though" he pointed to the book in her hand "if it isn't a book, then why is it like a book?"

"I assume it must be a muggle thing because most plays are bound into books, that way people can read them whenever they want and not just see them performed."

Flipping through the book, she smiled "I'm glad you picked this one it is my favorite comedy."

Hermione snuggled closer to Draco in the bed. "What do you think of your story?"

Draco smiled and snuggled closer to her "I'm happy that you like it. I wasn't sure.

"I am enjoying mine very much. It is surprisingly fantastic; Sherlock Holmes is badass. Who knew Muggles were so talented."

Hermione rolled her eyes fighting the urge to shout 'me, I knew Muggles were this talented.'

The pair was soon reading in silence; Hermione was curled up low on Draco's bare chest holding her book near his stomach. Draco had his left arm gently resting on her left shoulder holding his book over her head.

Lightly stretching after he finished the chapter he had been reading Draco remembered he had wanted to ask Hermione what exactly it was that Clarke discovered.

Closing his book he cleared his throat to get her attention, that didn't work so he called her name.

"Hmm, do you need something Draco?" Hermione didn't look up from her book.

"I wanted to talk, but if you're too wrapped up in Shakespeare, then I'll leave you alone."

She rose from his chest creating a cold spot where she was "Oh, okay."

She closed her book and leaned back on her pillows looking at him "What did you want to talk about?"

Draco rubbed his chest where she had been "Well I realized tonight at dinner that I have never asked why you were so interested in finding Clarke. You went into a bit of detail telling Daniel Marvin; but what did he really do? Why is it so important to you?"

Hermione glanced down at her lap, how to explain why she wanted to know more about this man?

"Back in 1902 Clarke had discovered that wizards and muggles have the same blood types. The only difference is there is a mutation or rather extra gene in the DNA of wizards, which is the gene that makes them wizards. There is no difference between quote-unquote, purebloods, halfbloods, muggle-borns or even muggles themselves.

"I figured that if I were able to obtain the information I could use it for future generations. So no one would have to go through what we've had to. I just can't help but get angry at the whole situation. It wasn't just your family, Harry's great grandfather also banished Clarke, along with many others whose families we know. Perhaps if the members of the Wizengamot had accepted this actual scientific fact rather than punish Clarke, we would never have had the two wizard wars. Voldemort would have had a difficult time rising to power since his cause would be fruitless. Which would mean that Harry's parents wouldn't have died, Sirius wouldn't have spent twelve horrific years in Azkaban. Your family would be different as well. We wouldn't have had all the senseless deaths over whose blood was better or the right kind, this proves that it is all the same.

"Clarke isn't even mentioned in textbooks. I wanted to meet the man who history forgot. I wanted to make sure people knew his name." She sighed at the end of her speech.

Draco took her hand "You're incredible Hermione. Not many people would be willing to travel back in time just to help those in the future. People will not only remember Clarke's name but yours as well.

"However what you fail to mention is what your follow up plan would be if Clarke didn't send you back. You're not so irresponsible to only be thinking of a grade, that you would risk your life."

"When did you become so nice? You've been complimenting me practically this whole time. Who are and what have you done with the snarky Draco Malfoy?" she laughed.

"Hey I've always been nice, I just never directed any of it to you before this year" he half chuckled, half looked apologetic.

Mentally shaking away the memories of him being cruel to Hermione he continued "Besides it isn't so much about being nice it's about being honest. You know me I am always one to speak what is on my mind" he smirked.

"Now tell me what your follow up plan was, I am aware that you had to have one since you are Hermione, you plan for everything."

"My follow up plan? Not sure how well it would've worked but my plan was to go to America and present Clarke's findings myself. In the hope that perhaps if the Americans accepted the findings, then Britain would soon consent to them as well. Then the wizard wars won't even happen. So no it wasn't just for the grade. After I was done, I would figure out some way to go back to the present."

"Leave it to a Gryffindor to try to save the world" he smirked pulling her into his chest again he had liked her there.

She curved into him, feeling content.

He began to fiddle with her hair and said absent-mindedly "It's an alright follow-up plan, but just so you know we will be returning to the year 1998 together before the ship sinks. I am positive of it."

"How can you be so certain?" she looked up at his face longingly.

Draco rolled his eyes "Aren't you the one in Gryffindor, the one with the faith, hope, and courage bullshit?

"I'm certain of it because let's face it between the two of us we can pretty much conqueror anything. We aren't the first and second in our class for nothing."

Hermione chortled "I guess you are right."

"Of course I am right, you act as if it is something I rarely am" Draco retorted.

"I also want to go on the record saying that I am not thrilled how you have cried so much while we have been here. It's been a little over 24 hours, and you've cried at least four times. I thought I told you I don't console people very well, I'm not comfortable with it."

Hermione playfully smacked him "Hey, you are the one who has made me cry! But I think you've done a splendid job of making me feel better."

They sat quietly for a minute then Hermione said.

"I know it was an accident that you are even here with me, but I am glad that you are. I wouldn't be able to do this alone. Furthermore, if I'm honest, I wouldn't want to be here with anyone else. I…appreciate you Draco."

Draco took her hand, brought it to his lips, and kissed it softly "I appreciate you as well Hermione."

Readjusting in bed, he said, "We should get some sleep."

Draco then noticed Hermione's face get sad. He said "Or we could just continue to read."

At that, her face brightened with a smile.

Her smile caused Draco to chuckle "Bookworm."

She stuck her tongue out and laughed "Takes one to know one."

She settled back into her original position and went back to reading. With her on his chest and his arm wrapped around her is how they fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Just wanted to pop in and say thank you to everyone who is reading. Also a quick note I don't remember if I mentioned this, but Daniel and Mary Marvin are real people, just their dialogue and mannerisms are made up.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own HP or Titanic, the ship or the movie. If I did my life would be a lot different.**

 **If you have any questions/comments/concerns you can contact me over on Tumblr at Jules-Millicent...Tumblr...com**

The sun crept through the porthole causing Hermione to awaken

She woke up wrapped in Draco's arm. She remembered the night before and falling asleep reading on his chest. She smiled at the memory, as she moved to lay on her own pillow. She tucked her arm under her head and watching his sleeping form.

As Hermione watched Draco's rise and fall with every breath, she recalled how well she had slept the past two days. Her nightmares had subsided months before, but peaceful sleep was something of the past except the past couple of days. Being next to Draco seemed to help her sleep, friendly sleepovers might be in order when they get back to Hogwarts Hermione decided.

Draco soon began to stir, causing Hermione to shift from staring at him to anywhere else.

Rubbing his eyes, Draco looked over at Hermione, "Hello," he smirked at her as he stretched.

"Good morning" she smiled back.

He leaned down and kissed her.

She hadn't been expecting that, and she would be lying to herself if she said that didn't want it to happen again. She licked her lips and looked down at the mattress. Draco retook her in his arms and pulled her close again. She didn't object.

"I can't believe how well I slept last night, and actually the night before. I've never slept so well in… well ever. I might need bunk with you when we get back Hogwarts" Draco said as he wrapped his arms around her tighter.

Hermione pulled herself out of his arms. She finally had enough, she wanted, no Hermione needed to know how could he possibly always know what she was thinking?

"How do always know what I am thinking? I just thought those same words!"

Draco's voice was groggy "What words?"

"I literally just had said to myself 'I've never slept so peacefully than I have these past two days and that we should share a bed more often so we can get a good night sleep.' Strictly only sleep, though. There is no way that you would know that. Are you able to do legilimency? But we don't have any magic here; it just doesn't make sense. It is like you either repeat what I just said or answer my question that I only said to myself."

Draco rubbed his eyes; it was too early for this. "First, it is too early for interrogations by Hermione. Second, yes I can do legilimency. Aunt Bella and Snape both taught me, that and occulumency. They were useful tools to know during the Dark Lords, I mean Voldemort's reign.

"I promise I haven't used legilmency on you since the war has ended. Nor would I ever do it again. I didn't know I was thinking the same thing as you. I felt that you were thinking and answering me. I chocked it up to just a coincidence."

Hermione studied his face for a moment "You've used the spell on me during the war when?"

Draco didn't directly answer the question "It was only once, and I would never do it again."

Hermione could tell that Draco was genuinely sincere in what he was saying. She swept his hair out of his face tracing her hand down his face. "I believe you. It's just I've never known anyone to be able to think the same things as each other. I just assumed you were reading my mind."

"Neither have I, but I'm not reading your mind. You're not as guiltless as you think. You've answered some of my unasked questions before I even could ask them" Draco said.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"What? What? Yes, you have been able to answer my questions without me even having to ask them. You did it even back at school, but I am just noticing it now. For example yesterday during our talk about Fred, I had thought the words ' I wonder who' and as soon as the thought was through you said 'I know you want to know with whom' I was surprised, but assumed that it was just a logical assumption. There was this other time when we were doing homework back in the common room. You were working on a Potions essay I was working on alchemy homework, and you had helped me when I didn't ask for it."

Hermione frowned "That's not so odd I often give help when it isn't asked."

"No I mean I neither of us either looked up from our books but you still answered the question" Draco explained.

Hermione thought back to the time in question. She was back in their dorm room,

… _Hermione was curled up on the armchair, in her lap was her potions book and notebook, in her hair, was a Muggle pencil, and she was chewing on the end of her quill._

 _Draco was on the sofa hunched forward going over his alchemy notes which were sprawled over their coffee table. He had a look of confusion on his face, glancing at his notes and then back at his book on his lap numerous times. He needed to figure out what that symbol was to solve the equation and he couldn't find it anywhere in his notes._

 _Hermione was_ _oblivious to his struggles since she was going over her own notes. Slughorn had assigned the class to write a two to three-page parchment on the memory potion. Hermione was writing her essay on how the memory potion would be beneficial to those who have had their minds obliviated and then restored._

 _This topic was_ _such a close to home issue for her. Since this is what Hermione had done after she had found her parents. Once the war was over Hermione left for Austrailia to get her parents back. She found them living along the Golden Coast of Australia, living a happy life. Hermione thought that she was selfish for taking them away from this, but she also felt guilty that she had even oblivated them in the first place. Wanting her parents back she restored their memories of her, it was difficult at first, but with the help of the potion, they were able to remember everything. They said they understood why she did it, to keep them safe, but they treated her differently afterward. Not entirely trusting her._

 _The room was silent other than the scratch of quills on parchment. Breaking the silence Hermione spoke: "I don't know why you don't have it in your notes, but that's the symbol for ammonia."_

 _Hermione didn't realize that she said anything, and Draco absently checked his book to find that the answer was ammonia._

"I'll be damned" Hermione gasped.

"So since whatever this is between us isn't just me, I believe it is safe to say that it has nothing to do with my unfortunate time working as a Death Eater" Draco said solemnly.

Hermione shifted her body so she could grab his left arm. Gently she began tracing the faded dark mark with her fingertips.

Draco jerked his arm.

Hermione held it firm in her hand. "You know we've never talked about you working for Voldemort and being a Death Eater."

"That was by design Granger. I'm not proud of what I did, and want to forget it." Draco finally pulled his arm away. He held it close to him trying to hide it from the world.

Hermione looked at him with her soft eyes wanting more information.

 _'_ _Ugh,'_ he thought to himself. _'Merlin these bleeding heart Gryffindors always want to talk about feelings.'_ He stared back at her, seeing her frown.

"Draco I am not a bleeding heart Gryffindor who wants to talk about their feelings, I mean I am, but I want to know, I want to understand it."

"What is there to understand? I willing joined a group of men and women who thought they were better than everyone else because they were so-called pure-blood. I willing accepted to follow a mass-murder. I willingly joined because my father was in Azkaban, and I figured it was all Harry's fault. I enlisted to be a Death Eater, to bring back honor to my family name.

"I was commanded to kill a man. I fixed the vanishing cabinet and let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. I believed in all the hate and the prejudice that had been fed into me since childhood. It wasn't until I was staring into the eyes of the man I was to kill that I knew I was fighting for the wrong side I was a coward. I should have stood up for what was right when I knew what I was doing was wrong. I was a pawn, letting people tell me what to do. I had helped start the war with what I had done. Living every day in fear, having to do unspeakable things just so you wouldn't have the Cruciatus Curse cast at you or worse be snake food.

"That day at the manor, when the Snatchers brought you, Harry and Ron to the manor. That day was perhaps the worst day. I couldn't do anything; I was too scared. I was certain that it would be the end and the Dark Lord," Draco took a deep breath and corrected himself "I mean Voldemort was going to win."

Draco was staring at the ceiling he couldn't look at Hermione. He could feel hot tears forming, he refused to cry, though. Draco wasn't going to feel sorry for himself, he wasn't going to cry in front of Hermione. He blinked them back into his eyes.

Hermione, however, had soft tears falling down her face. She took his face and made him look at her "Draco; I never actually thought about what your life was like, and I am sorry for that."

"Don't feel sorry for me" Draco snapped he turned away from her.

"I don't, I mean, I do, I guess what I'm saying is that the light side wasn't the only ones to have suffered. The day the Snatchers had brought us to the Manor I thought that it was the end. I had hexed Harry's face, but I didn't know if it was going to be enough. Then your mother recognized me. It was over I could feel it.

"Though you say you did nothing to help us but you did do something. You didn't give Harry away; that was crucial for our survival. You gave us time, Dobby was able to get everyone out of the dungeons. We were able to escape all because you didn't give Harry away. You in a way saved us."

Draco closed his eyes and shook his head; he just couldn't believe that anyone especially Hermione could ever see him as a decent person. "I should have done more. I should have stopped Bellatrix from torturing you; I did what I could with Legilmency."

"That's when you entered my mind?"Hermione asked.

Draco sighed, he might as well lay it all on the table now.

"Yes," he said. "The Cruciatus Curse affects the mind when administered for long periods of time. I tried to alleviate the damage by having your mind be focused on me entering it. You didn't know this because of the pain from the curse. It was all I could think to do."

"Do you remember any of my thoughts?"

"No," Draco said. "It all happened rather quickly. I was too scared to actually pay attention to the images in front of me. I should have done more, though. I should have stood up to my father. I should have left when I knew it was wrong. I should have switched sides when Dumbledore gave me a chance."

"It is impossible to change the past. You can't keep punishing yourself for the mistakes that you have made you can only learn from them" Hermione said.

"Says the girl who is sitting on the Titanic in 1912 after she had used a time turner to essentially change the past" Draco sneered.

Hermione frowned at his stubbornness. "Fine you are right I shouldn't say that you can't modify the past when I am in fact trying to do just that. But you can't keep tormenting yourself over the choices that you made during the war. We all had to make tough decisions. Some were right, some were wrong. Some seemed like the right choice at the time but in the end, they weren't. We can only learn from them and try to do better in the future.

"Let me tell you something. From my point of view, I see a boy who was always trying to please his father. I see someone so loyal to his family that he let them decide what they deemed was right for him. I see a man who knew that what he was doing was wrong, but didn't know what else to do to save his family. You had choices in what you did Draco, but they weren't very good options. You made the choice that would keep you and your family alive. I can't fault you for that since I did the same thing. Doing those things isn't what makes you a bad person. Thinking that they are right is what makes it wrong."

Draco didn't reply.

Hermione let him sit quietly with his thoughts. She didn't want to push him too much. She grabbed the book that she had been reading before they fell asleep; flipping to the page where she left off.

After reading five pages, she heard Draco mumble something.

"What did you say?" Hermione asked.

"I said thanks," Draco said.

Hermione didn't say anything she only snuggled up closer to Draco, who squeezed her tighter. Reading over her shoulder, not wanting to reach for his own book.

As she read, Hermione thought back to her conversation with Mary. Mary had been able to notice that Draco was a good man, only after meeting him for a few minutes. Hermione couldn't believe that it was only yesterday that she had first met the Marvin's, it felt like forever ago. Then she remembered what Mary had said about Draco's name, Hermione chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Draco asked.

"I'm just thinking of something that Mary said yesterday," Hermione said.

Draco rolled his eyes "Care to elaborate?"

"Well, Mary had asked about the origin of your name, she thought it was interesting. I explained that it was a tradition in your family to name children after stars/constellations.

"To which she replied that it was odd, but sweet and when we have children we should keep the tradition. I nearly fainted at the suggestion."

Draco sat up causing Hermione to flop on the mattress, he scowled "How dare she say that my name and my families naming traditions are odd! What type of name is Mary? And you! The idea of having children with me caused you to almost faint? I mean look at me, you would be lucky to have my children."

"Someone is sensitive" Hermione teased. "I apologize for the misunderstanding. It's not necessarily you, it's a lot you due to our past but not all of it."

"Understandable I guess. Though I would still be an excellent candidate to procreate with. Good looks, brains, athleticism, financial stability" Draco said.

Hermione laughed in his face "Draco I'm not taking applications! You don't need to list what would make you a good candidate. The reason the whole topic frightens me for lack of better term is that I've just never actually imagined myself having children. I want to have them eventually, I even have ideas for names, but the actual act of being a mother isn't something I have thought about."

"You're right, sorry, I think my pride was hurt thinking that you didn't think I was a good choice due to my past discretions."

Hermione smiled and said "After this adventure, I won't hold what you did in the past against you. It's who you were not who you are."

"What have you thought of for names?" Draco asked.

Hermione looked at _A Midsummers Night Dream_ which had falling next to her during their conversation. "Well, I've always loved the idea of naming my future child or children after one of Shakespeare's works like my parents did for me. However I wanted the name to be more normal than mine, I don't want my children to be bullied for their names like I was."

"Did you have actual names picked out?" Draco inquired further.

"If I had a girl I would name her Juliet from Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet. While I do find it ridiculous for the character to do the things she does; she does it for love. Can't fully blame her, we all know what I did for the people I love and that wasn't even romantic love. I also love the name Rosaline from the same play. Then if I had a boy, then I would name him Reynaldo from Hamlet Or Hugo after another author I love Victor Hugo."

"The girl names aren't awful, but Reynaldo? Hugo? You said you wanted them to have normal names? I don't know about you Granger, but I don't know many Hugo's or Reynaldo's."

Hermione sighed in exasperation "Hugo means intelligent. Also, I wouldn't call him Reynaldo or Hugo. Those would be his formal name, no I would call him Ray or Hugh."

"That is only slightly better. Ray and Hugh are an old person's name. You're not going to be naming our son either of those" Draco commented.

Hermione scoffed at him not noticing his slip of the tongue. She then asked him "Have you ever thought of children's names?"

"I have a penis I don't think of things like that" Draco teased.

"Must you be so vulgar?" Hermione asked with a frown.

Draco smirked, "It is part of my charm."

Staring at each other Draco began to smile at her, and his smile grew as she smiled back.

"As much as I would rather spend all day with you in bed, we should get up. We've already missed breakfast, and I'm sure Daniel and Mary are wondering where we are."

Draco said as he climbed over Hermione to get out of the bed. "Then we are going to have tea with Clarke. Still miffed that the old wanker practically refused to see us, we flat out told him that we were from Hogwarts."

"That 'old wanker' is our only hope of getting home, so let's not upset him and give him any more reason to not to send us back" Hermione warned.

Draco sighed in defeat standing at the foot of the bed he said "Fine, but I'm not making any promises if he doesn't agree to send us back."

The each thought about the fact that Clarke could refuse to send them back.

Draco broke their silent thoughts when he said "I'm going to shower; I'll be out in a few" Draco leaned in and gave Hermione a chaste kiss on the lips then walked into the bathroom.

Hermione's eyes followed him until the view was broken by the closing of the door. Twice Draco had kissed her that morning, he also kissed her once yesterday. She had instigated two kisses yesterday. Overall they have shared five kisses, well four since one was a kiss on the cheek. Why did something that should feel so wrong feel so right? She couldn't explain it.

Hermione's thoughts were broken when a moment later Draco reopened the bathroom door.

Draco was looking at his feet in embarrassment.

"Hermione how " he changed his voice from sounding embarrassed to frustrated "Granger how do these bloody taps turn on?"

 _'_ _Wow. Draco has never done much, if anything, without the assistance of magic'_ she thought to herself as she swung her feet over the side of the bed to join him in the bathroom.

Draco furrowed his brow, she knew that he had figured out what she had been thinking. She was going to research this if/when they get back to Hogwarts.

"Yes, you caught me I don't know how to use muggle taps. Stop being so judgemental about it and please help" Draco sighed in desperation.

"I'm not judgemental, It is just sometimes I forget that this isn't how you grew up. Your life has always been filled with magic. I, on the other hand, always have and will always be part of both worlds so the simple mundane stuff to me might seem daunting to you."

Hermione stood next to the shower, with him next to her "It's simple once you get used to it. You see there are two handles. The one on the right is the one for cold water and the one on the left is for hot water" she pointed to the proper knobs.

"You need to turn them both on to get the right water temperature. To activate the water turn the handles to the left and the then once you are done turn them to the right to shut off the water. Righty, tighty, lefty loosey."

"Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey?" he raised an eyebrow "Where do you come up with all these stupid sayings?"

Hermione huffed "They are not my stupid sayings. It is another idiom. Though I guess we are using it before it actually became a saying which wasn't until the Phillips head screw was invented in the 1930's. However, the first modern screw was created in 1841."

"You are honestly a walking textbook," Draco remarked.

Hermione blushed she didn't mean to rattle off facts, she just happens to know them.

"I didn't say it was a bad thing" Draco assured her.

Hermione smiled and went back to explaining "You need to twist them both until you get your desired temperature. The water will automatically come out the lower faucet you will need to pull on the lever in the middle, and it will turn on the shower head. Once you are done just turn the water off everything will reset on its own so don't worry about having to pull that again."

She grabbed him a towel from under the sink and placed it on the towel rack next to the tub. "All set?"

Draco quickly reviewed what she said in his head "Yes."

"Good" Hermione said as she began to exit the bathroom.

Draco grabbed her arm and kissed her cheek "Thanks."

Hermione said, "You're welcome." With that, she took her leave.

She stood on the other side of the bathroom door and sighed. Not a sad sigh just a sigh that represented every feeling that she had. As she stood, a thought popped into her head. She wondered if what she was feeling was that she Hermione Granger was perhaps, maybe, possibly falling in love with Draco Malfoy.

All the signs were there, even before back at school, she would think of him all day thinking of what he was doing. She would watch him in classes, and in the great hall during meals. The way that he made her happy and mad, she just wanted to be near him.

Hermione thought of Harry and Ron, what would they think? They would assume her to be certifiable. Though she hoped that in time, they would be happy for her. She hoped that once they saw how happy she was then they would put the past behind them and the four of them will be able to civil to each other and perhaps even friends. Hermione told herself to stop thinking. Her brain was jumping to conclusions, and she needed to stay on task.

She heard the water running as she moved away from the door to get dressed. Shedding Draco's shirt and tossing it to the floor, Hermione took the dress that she had picked out yesterday out of the wardrobe, it was the tea length pink and purple lace dress. Next to it was the vine green dress that had called to her yesterday. Holding the pink dress over her arm, she let her fingers glide over the fabric of the green dress; she couldn't wait for dinner tonight.

Hermione was standing in the middle of the room in only her bra and knickers when the sound of a breathy "Wow" hit her ears. Quickly she turned around and held the pink dress up in front of her.

"I didn't mean to startle you," Draco said.

Hermione didn't move she only stood with the dress in front of her still.

"You don't need to cover yourself," Draco walked over to her and pushed the dress away but didn't look down at her body only at her face.

"I don't have the words to describe what exactly is happening. You're bringing out feelings in me that I was sure I would never have."

Hermione focused all her energy to look directly at his face. She didn't want to get caught looking at his towel-clad body with the millions of tiny water droplets that were cascading their way down his body that was still steaming from his shower.

"I don't know what this is either. I don't like not knowing" Hermione said.

Draco took the dress out of her hands and tossed it onto the bed "I know."

Grabbing her chin gently he pulled her to reach him and kissed her.

The kiss deepened.

Draco traced his tongue on her lower lip; she opened her mouth to let his tongue in.

Her arms flew around his neck, his rested firmly at her hips.

The touch of her skin beneath his fingertips made Draco's whole being feel on fire. It took every fiber of him not to lift her and place her on the bed, but this wasn't the time.

Hermione combed her fingers through his soft damp hair wanted him to be closer to her, Hermione pulled him closer to her body. It wasn't enough she needed him closer.

Hermione could feel his growing erection press up against her; she wanted him in her.

That thought made Hermione slow down the kiss, she didn't want to stop, but knew that she wasn't ready. She gently pulled her body away from his and looked at him smiling.

"Let's get dressed and head down for lunch. I'm starving, and we missed breakfast since we spent all morning in bed."

"Like you hated being in bed with me all morning" he smirked.

She smirked back at him

Hermione grabbed the dress off the bed and stepped into it. She didn't bother hiding anymore.

Draco put on his shirt first and went to grab his trousers.

"What are you going to do about new boxers?" she asked.

"I'm not going to be wearing any, warning you now I am about to take off my towel to put on my trousers."

Hermione turned away to face the bed, she wanted to know what _it_ looked like but was too nervous to flat outlook.

"All done" she heard his voice call.

She turned back around, he was fixing his tucked in shirt.

Hermione said to him "I'm going to need your help with these last few buttons on this dress, the invention of the zipper on women's clothing can't come fast enough!"

Draco chuckled, he fastened her dress for her "There."

"Thanks" Hermione sat at the vanity to put her hair up.

Draco stood in front of the full-length mirror as he tied his tie "Do you ever think about what happens to them?" he asked in the midst of the silence.

"What happens to who?" she fiddled with her bun to make it stay straight.

"Do you ever think of what happens to Daniel and Mary when the ship sinks?" Draco asked again.

Hermione placed her hands down on her lap and looked at Draco; he might say he doesn't care about others, but she knew he did.

"The thought has crossed my mind. It is hard to have this giant secret and not be able to tell anyone even though it would save countless lives if we revealed it. I don't want to think about what happens to them; I'm not sure I want to know even after we're gone from here. I would like to remember them as our friends."

"I understand." Draco was silent, thinking to himself about the next couple of hours and what it meant for them.

He turned away from the mirror and looked at Hermione "Ready yet?"

Hermione nodded as she rose and she with Draco exited their cabin.

"Daniel what do you think could be keeping them?" Mary asked her husband. They had just spent a lovely morning in the Parisian Café expecting to see Hermione and Draco, and she was upset that they didn't.

They had only known the other couple for a day, but she knew their friendship held a strong bond.

"Mary dear, you are getting yourself into a tizzy. Remember how we were in our honeymoon stage? When they are ready to find us, they will" Daniel took his wife's hand as they walked the promenade.

Mary smiled "As always you are so right. I'm just very fond of Hermione and Draco and hope that we are going to be able to keep correspondence with them after this voyage is over."

Daniel smiled at his wife. He looked up and walking towards them were Hermione and Draco. "Speak of the devils."

"Hermione" Mary beamed. "I was beginning to wonder where you were."

Hermione gave Mary a hug and kissed her cheek "Please forgive us for not joining you earlier, we had a late start this morning."

Mary waved the incident away "I remember my honeymoon so no need for apologies. What is important is that you're here now. What would you care to do? We still have thirty minutes before the lunch bell will be ringing for us to head to the dining room."

While the women said their hellos, Daniel and Draco had shook hands and were standing next to their respected significant other.

Draco answered for them "You and Daniel seem to be enjoying a walk along the promenade, we could all enjoy it together."

"Splendid idea Draco" Daniel agreed.

Mary took Hermione's arm and began to lead her away from the men. Hermione looked back at Draco; she knew that he and Daniel had held conversations before alone, but how much longer could Draco fake he understood anything that had to with muggles.

Draco nodded to her that he was going to be okay.

Hermione smiled at him before turning back to Mary.

Daniel started the conversation "I'm surprised that Titanic even made it out of the dock, with the National Coal Strike. I heard that White Star had to take all the coal from their other ships just to have Titanic set sail on time. Has the coal strike affected you or your travels at all?"

Draco had no idea about any coal strike. He knew that coal was a mineral and was sometimes used in potions, but he didn't understand how it could strike someone.

He answered, as honest as he could "No thankfully."

Daniel nodded "Good to hear. I supported the strike. The workers were only asking for minimum wage. It's not too much to ask for when they risk their lives in coal mines."

Draco realized that a strike in the muggle world must mean a form of protest. How was he supposed to talk economics when he had no idea about the present day muggle economic situation let alone past muggle economics?

Draco had to say something he was about to border on being silent for too long "It's a good thing that White Star was able to collect enough coal to make it all the way to America."

"It is indeed." Daniel turned up his jacket collar "It has become chillier, we must be reaching iceberg territory."

Draco did the same with his coat.

When he and Hermione had first stepped out on the deck, they felt how cold it had gotten. The pair had once again entered a cabin and _borrowed_ some warm clothing.

"Iceberg territory?" Draco asked.

"Yes, the North Atlantic is swarming with them. I've crossed these waters numerous times and not once have I seen an iceberg. So nothing to fret about" Daniel laughed.

Draco only nodded, Hermione was right it is hard to keep the secret of what was going to happen.

He looked ahead of them at Mary and Hermione they were leaning into each other giggling.

"Wonder what they are laughing at," Draco said to Daniel as he pointed to the girls.

Daniel looked over as well and chuckled "Undoubtedly us."

At that moment Hermione looked back and smiled, then she said something to Mary.

Draco smiled, "You're probably right mate."

The girls stopped walking allowing the men to catch up to them.

Draco wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist "Dare I ask what was so funny?"

He kissed Hermione's temple.

She smiled up at him "Nothing of importance."

Draco saw the sly smirk that Hermione and Mary gave each other, just then the midday bell rang.

Daniel took Mary's arm "It's time for us to head inside."

He waved the Malfoys to take the lead, who nodded their heads in thanks.

Lunch was unnoteworthy. It was decided that since the weather was far too chilly to be outside, the four of them would retire to the first class lounge for the remainder of the afternoon.

The two couples took up a table with a chess board.

"Care for a game Draco?" Daniel asked indicating to the table.

Hermione quickly whispered in Draco's ear "It is identical to wizard chess, except for the fact that you need to move the pieces, and they don't barbarically destroy each other at the end of the turn they are just removed from the board."

Draco smiled at her quick explanation and then at Daniel, he was an avid chess player and was the best player in his house at Hogwarts.

"Sure, you can be white."

The men took their seats in front of the board with their wives taking a seat next to them.

Daniel opened the game with moving his e2 pawn to e4.

Draco made a similar move, and the game commenced.

Each taking their time planning their next move, not rushing into anything that would cause them to lose.

Hermione took note of Draco's determined face; he was in this to win it.

She used to be surprised at how well Ron was at wizard chess, but during the war, he was the strategist. He knew how to plan ahead, and that was what chess was about.

Hermione also figured that the reason Harry was so shit at the game was that he always rushed into things, without thinking of every outcome.

Draco took his time, weighing out every possible outcome before he made his move.

Hermione couldn't help but feel attracted to him at this moment, wondering what it would be like for him to study her so intensely like he was doing to the board.

The game went on for a while.

Finally, Draco smirked at Daniel "checkmate."

Draco at brought his queen to Daniels H1 trapping his king, allowing Draco to win.

Hermione couldn't help herself when she let out a "woohoo."

Immediately turned bright red and apologized "I'm sorry, not sure what came over me. I'm not normally one for competition."

Draco laughed at her and kissed her temple, and Daniel and Mary said not to worry about it.

"You are quite an avid opponent Draco," Daniel said as he shook Draco's hand.

"You as well, shall we now play a game where our wives can join? Hermione, Mary any suggestions?" Draco looked at the two women.

Mary smiled appreciatively at Draco "I'll be right back, I saw some cards over on the other side of the room. We can play knock rummy until it is time for you and Hermione to meet Mr. Clarke."

Daniel cleared away the chess board while they waited for Mary. "Are you nervous about having tea with Mr. Clarke?" he asked trying to make conversation.

Hermione frowned "Why should we be nervous? We spoke with him last night."

Daniel shrugged innocently "Not saying that you should feel nervous. It had just seemed, to me at least, that he wasn't keen on the idea of visitors today. I could have misread him; who knows what goes on someone else's mind am I right?" Daniel chuckled trying to ease the tension.

"Indeed," Hermione and Draco said at the same time, each wincing at that fact.

Luckily the awkwardness ended when Mary had returned with the cards.

"I realize I should have asked this before I made the decision that we will be playing Knock Rummy; but do you both know how to play?" She asked.

Hermione had only played once with her father just for fun when she was a little girl, she didn't remember how to play.

Hermione smiled, "It has been quite a while since I've played, and even then I played as a child with my father, so I'm unclear on whether it was the real game."

Mary smiled "Oh how sweet. Well to start aces are low, like usual in rummy. The dealer starts to his/her left and gives out seven cards each. The remaining cards are used to form the stock, the top card is turned over and placed next to the stock, and this is to become the discard pile.

"The object of the game is to have each player try to form matched sets consisting of groups of three or four of a kind, or sequences of three or more cards of the same suit, called melds.

"The players can either draw from the stock or take the top card of the discard pile and then discard as in Rummy.

"The player then knocks, ending the hand. He/she then separates his/her melds from unmatched cards and announces the count of the unmatched cards. Each opponent then separates his melds from unmatched cards and announces his count as well. When a player gets rid of all his cards, he/she wins the game. Hopefully, that made sense" Mary concluded nervously.

Draco, like Hermione, didn't know how to play. He was trying to follow what Mary had been saying so to help him understand it he summarized it and repeated it back to her. "Please tell me if I am mistaken, but we are each given seven cards, out of those seven cards we need to make matching sets as in all Aces or King, Queen, Jack of all the same kind like all diamonds for example. We are not limited to those original seven cards we can either pick from the discard pile; but only the top card, or the stock. The thing is that we need to keep only seven cards so no matter what we do we must always need to discard a card. At the end of each of our turns, we knock on the table to signify that our turn is over. The first person to clear all our cards is the winner. Correct?"

Mary clapped her hands together which made Draco grimace, which made Hermione scowl at him.

Mary didn't notice "Yes! That is precisely how to play. Your explanation was much simpler than mine, for which I apologize for."

Draco only smiled.

Daniel took the cards from Mary and began to shuffle "Ready to play?"

The other three nodded.

If Draco had to lose to anyone he was glad that it was to Hermione. She had won each round that they played.

The clock on the mantle chimed that it was 2:30, Hermione and Draco both looked at the clock then at each other.

The thought that they both had was to forget meeting Clarke and just stay where they were.

The second thought that followed was they realized that neither of them truly wanted that.

Draco and Hermione gave each other the nod to know that they each knew what the other was thinking.

Draco stood first and helped Hermione out of her chair.

"It was a pleasurable afternoon, thank you for including us" Hermione smiled and kissed Mary's cheek.

"The pleasure was all ours. We will, of course, be seeing you at dinner this evening correct?" Mary asked.

Hermione bit her lip; she was hoping that she will be back in her Hogwarts dorm by then, but she didn't have the heart actually to say goodbye to her new friend.

"We will see, depending on how we feel."

To avoid further discomfort she and Draco abruptly turned and walked out of the room.

"Do you know where we are going? I just remember Clarke never gave us his cabin number." Draco asked once they were out of reach of the lounge.

"Mary told me. When she was talking with Clarke yesterday, they were talking about the accommodations of their rooms, and he told her his cabin. Ironically, he is on C-deck just like us. Except while we are cabin c88 he is c21" Hermione said.

"Well isn't that convenient" Draco mused.

Taking her hand in his Draco said "I know you're nervous, but we are in this together alright?"

Hermione squeezed his hand in comfort "Thanks."

They reached cabin c21, frozen in front of the door that held the key to their future. Hermione mustered all of her Gryffindor courage and knocked on the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Draco and Hermione stood in anticipation as they watch the door slowly opened.

Clarke stood on the other side with a scowl on his face. He had hoped that they would just forget this whole thing and leave him alone.

Draco noticed Clarke's scowl and smirked, he wasn't going to let Clarke off that easy. He was aware that Clarke was their only option to get home, but he could still be a prat.

"Try not to look so pleased to see us, Clarke."

Hermione grabbed his arm "Draco don't!"

Clarke raised his eyebrows and had his own smirk "Ah there is the real Malfoy character that I know. I have to say what an enjoyable show you put on last night."

Clarke sneered at them "Now Ms. Granger what are you doing with the likes of him and why are you even here?"

Clarke had taken a seat on a chair and waved his hands to indicate for them to sit on the love seat.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other in shock.

"Excuse me sir; but how do you know my name?" Hermione asked her voice trembling the words out.

"If you are going to force me to talk, you might as well sit" Clarke waved his hands again for them to sit, which they did this time.

"I am sure you know by now I am a master at Divinations, last night after dinner I came back here and read my tea leaves. It said that two people from the future were here. One named Malfoy" at this he glanced at Draco with disgust "and the other Granger."

A tea cup was on the table that was next to him, he slowly picked up and took a sip from it, he didn't, however, offer any to Hermione or Draco; he just continued with his story. "The leaves also indicated learning, turmoil, and then peace. You mentioned last evening you wanted to know about my blood study, what I can't understand is why. Also, why a Malfoy would be interested in it."

Draco looked like he was about to say something they would regret, so Hermione glared at him and cut him off "A lot has changed in the future. We have had two wizarding wars over blood purity. Draco and I were forced to be on the front lines for the last one. That is one of the reasons why we are here; the other is that I had to write a paper for my History of Magic class about a wizard who wasn't well known but had or could have had a large impact on the wizarding world. I chose you. But books only got me so far, so I used my time turner to send myself back here to meet you. As for me being with Malfoy, well Draco and I are friends; but it was an accident for him to be sent back with me."

Clarke rubbed his chin then said "So now you have come to me, so I can give you all my knowledge and send you back is that correct?"

Hermione couldn't understand why Clarke was being so rude , he had been so pleasant at dinner last night.

She bit her lip "No need to be so blunt about it. I honestly want to know how you discovered the mutation in the blood. What it could've meant for the wizarding world. As I told you yesterday I am a Muggle-born, life was never easy for me. I wanted to know if your theory had been accepted by the ministry how my life would've been affected."

"So you have selfish reasons for seeking me out. I thought you said that you were a Gryffindor not a Slytherin" Clarke quipped.

Hermione's hand raced to cover her mouth as she gasped in shock and felt the hot sting of tears fill her eyes.

Draco was angry. He had enough of this prick so he stood up from his seat to give Clarke a piece of his mind.

"Hermione maybe a lot of things but selfish is not one of them! She picked you out of all the other better-qualified wizards to do her research on. You, a man who isn't even taught in schools, a man who history will forget except in some footnotes in a few books. Hermione wanted to see what she could do to change the world for the better. You, sir, are an asshole, who doesn't even deserve to be in the presence of Hermione. You are kicking us when we are down…"

Before Draco could finish Clarke had pulled out a wand "Stupefy!"

Draco landed with a thump on the floor, causing Hermione to scream "Draco! Why did you do that? How could you do that your wand was destroyed when you were banned from the wizard world! Draco wake up! How could you be so cruel? Wake him up!" she was kneeling next to Draco now.

She was scared for the first time since landing on the ship. She didn't know what to do. She was shaking, all she could do was sit next to Draco's unconscious body.

"I felt that my life was threatened," Clarke said evenly, still sitting in his chair.

"Bullshit! Undo the spell before I make you!" Hermione growled reaching for where her wand should've been, but it was safely hidden in their room. She looked at her hip then back at Clarke who had a relaxed evil smile on his face.

"The spell will eventually wear off. Besides, if you could do anything to make me, you wouldn't need my assistance to return to the future. I am not cruel as you say; I am looking after myself. I have only a few hours left on this earth, and I am content with that. I will not be bothered by a girl who needs to know all the answers nor a boy whose family is the reason I am no longer a part of the life I had grown up with."

Clarke slowly rose from the chair and walked over to Hermione and Draco's unconscious body. He hovered so intimidating that Hermione was shaking. Hermione wished Draco would wake up.

Clarke bent forward "So if that doesn't answer your questions I will make it clear. I will not be sending you or Mr. Malfoy back."

Clarke waved his wand over Malfoys unconscious body reviving him. Draco gasped as he sat up.

"I would like you both to leave and not to bother me again!" Clarke whispered a spell pointing his wand at the pair. Hermione and Draco were pushed by an invisible force out of the room.

The door slammed in their face. Hermione couldn't hold it in any longer she let out a heart-wrenching sob. She would have fallen to the ground if Draco hadn't caught her. Draco didn't say anything. He wanted to bang on the door until it fell off and torture Clarke until he was a mindless tub of lard. However, he wasn't able to do that. He did the only thing he could, lead them back to their room.


	8. Chapter 8

Once their door was closed, Hermione sobbed again. "I'm so sorry Draco this is all my fault! How could he be so cruel? He didn't even care that we fought in a war. And when he pulled his wand on you… I had only been that scared once before."

She didn't need to tell him it was when the snatchers took her and the boys to the manor, he knew.

Draco led them towards the bed. "I'm fine. I've had worse curses and hexes thrown at me then stupefy. I'm more worried about you." Draco pulled her into his arms to stop her shaking.

Hermione relaxed into his body and cried into his chest. "I'm sorry I'm getting your shirt all wet."

Draco shrugged "It's not even mine, so I don't care."

She giggled and then cried again "This isn't how I imagined this would go. I've made such a mess of everything."

Draco had settled them on the bed; his arms are still wrapped around her "It's not your fault that he is a self-righteous asshole who holds a grudge. Whatever happens, we are going to be in this together remember." He leans his head and captures her lips with his.

She returns the kiss with a bit more force.

Hermione shifted her body, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. She slowly guided herself to lay down and him over her. Tongues were thrashing. Hermione was twisting her fingers in his hair. Draco moved his lips along her jawline all the way to her neck. One of his hands was fondling her breasts over her dress while the other holding himself over her.

Hermione could feel Draco growing more excited about her; she could feel her excitement growing within her.

Hermione knew she wanted this, to give Draco; her virginity.

She knew that this wouldn't be a mistake. He nipped and sucked tenderly, which caused her to moan in delight.

The sound of her moan brought Draco back to present. He immediately stopped and pulled away. Leaving Hermione to look scared, and embarrassed. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked shyly.

Draco wasn't looking at her as he ran his fingers through his hair. When he heard her voice, he turned towards her "No! You were amazing; that is what the problem was."

Hermione pulled her body into a ball and huddled herself in the corner of the bed. She thought he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Once again she thought she was a fool.

Draco brushed his hand through his hair "Hermione, this would be your first time… no, it has nothing to do with that. The issue is that you are upset. It wouldn't be right; your emotions are too all over the place right now. You have to be sure that you want to have sex. It is taking every part of me not to go over there and make the decision for you. But it is a decision that you need to make with a clear head. So this is not a rejection, which I know is what you think. Believe me. I think you know that I was not rejecting you." He made a glance down to his pants which were a bit tented.

"Well, maybe I did make the decision already. What if I decided that I wanted to give you my virginity? That this wasn't just a spur of the moment getting out of hand as it had with Fred. By you pulling away you already made the decision." Hermione said angrily. She had unraveled herself and was sitting up on the bed now.

"I did not make the decision for you!" Draco snapped back. "I wanted to make sure that you are one-hundred percent sure that this is what you wanted. You are not in the right state of mind. I don't want you to regret it, which is a possibility with all the shit that is happening to us right now!" Draco was shaking he was so mad; he was doing this for her, "How could she not see?" He thought.

"I can't see…" Hermione yelled.

"No! We are not going to have the argument with us knowing what the other is thinking" Draco warned. "I want you to be positive that this is what you want. I… I have hurt you in the past; hell hurt doesn't even begin to describe what I did. This is a big deal and if you regret it…"

As he talked, he started to speak softer "If you regret sleeping with me then I would have hurt you again. I made a promise to myself before I came back to school I wouldn't hurt you ever again… for the rest of my life."

His voice became softer almost vulnerable, running his hands through his hair again, then down his face, he sighed. Hermione was silent looking at him, she was still mad at how he pulled away, but she slowly understood his reasoning.

Draco looked at her wondering if she was going to say anything when she didn't reply he continued. "Look, we are in a very stressful situation. The future is up in the air, who knows what the consequences are if we don't go back. We don't need… we shouldn't be fighting with each other. If we are going to get out of this mess, we need to stick together. We're in this together."

Hermione was lost in thought. Finally, she spoke "You said that you made the promise before you came back to school you wouldn't hurt me again… how did you know I was even going back?"

Draco chuckled to himself as he sat back down next to her on the bed "That's what you took away from my speech? Well, I knew you were going to be head girl, McGonagall had told me in her letter to me about being head boy. Not going to lie I was surprised that she offered it to me, but as she explained in the letter, she thought that everyone deserved a second chance and that it was Dumbledores wish for me to be head of if I decided to go back after the war. Dumbledore always said he something in me that even myself didn't, so McGonagall trusting Dumbledores judgment and her own intuition she chose me. When I learned that I would have to be spending a lot of time with you, I promised that I wouldn't be mean to you anymore. We've been through too much; it didn't seem right."

"But you didn't have to come back, even if you knew about me being head girl… why did you?" Hermione asked quietly.

Draco frowned, "I'm positive that I told you why I came back on the train. I was tired of dealing with my parents."

Hermione shook her head "Yes you told me that. However, you could have moved into one of your family's many estates to get away from them. Why did you come back to Hogwarts?"

They stared into each other's eyes trying to find the answers without speaking.

Draco sighed and pushed her bangs that had fallen once again behind her ear "I came back because of you."

Hermione blushed and bit her lip "Me? Why?"

"Why?" Draco smiled at her "it was because for the longest time I thought I hated you. I guess I did in a way. I hated how you were smart, funny, and kind..."

"For my blood," she said in an icy tone.

Draco shook his head "No, not for your blood. Well yes, but not how you think. I hated that you were Muggle-born because I knew that we could never be anything, not even friends. My family was so wrapped up in things being pure that even after I began to question it all I had to go along with it just to stay safe in my home. I'm not going to sit here and tell you I didn't believe in the rhetoric but as I got older it just didn't make sense."

Draco thought for a moment before continuing "I think I picked on you the most because not only were you Potters best friend; but because you posed such a challenge to me. You were the antithesis of what my family said a muggle-born could be. However the more I was cruel to you the more you fought back, which I ended up respecting. So the hatred that was directed at you was my misguidedness and hatred for what you represented.

"When McGonagall told me that you were going to be the head girl I decided that I would come back and make amends. When I made that decision, I had no idea that we would actually be friends and me certainly never thought I would find you so irresistible."

Hermione could feel her face get hot as she looked away from him. Draco didn't answer only chuckled.

Hermione gathered her thoughts "Since you were honest with me, I might as well be honest with you. Since we were children, I tried to hate you. You were so mean, always calling me and everyone names, you were just a bully. Though I couldn't, I couldn't hate you because I knew that deep down you weren't that mean boy; you were just a parrot of the hateful speech that had surrounded you your entire life. In the sixth year, Harry was convinced that you had taken the mark, he spent hours trying to catch you in some action to prove it. I never wanted to believe it; I defended you against him…"

Draco looked puzzled "Why would you do that?"

Hermione held up her hand so she could continue.

"It begun to cause a slight strain in our relationship, he accused me of knowing something and refusing to tell him. I tried to explain that my gut was telling me that you were innocent and deserved to have someone in your corner; even if it was a lowly Muggle-born like myself. When Harry told me about the night Dumbledore died, I think I piece of myself died too. The piece of faith that everyone has good in them.

"It wasn't until later that Harry admitted you lowered your wand, and you weren't going to kill Dumbledore. He was just angry and confused about what was going on and what was going to happen. When I saw you enter my compartment on the train, I thought that it was time to start fresh. Then when you told me you were going to be head boy well that threw me for a loop, I knew my only options were to either keep pretending I hated you which was exhausting or to become friends with you.

"It surprised me how easy it was to be your friend, but reminded myself that without all the turmoil it most likely wouldn't have been. As time progressed, I found myself looking forward to spending time with you. I would rush back from the library just to see if you were in the common room. I didn't always even want to talk to you; I just wanted to make sure that you were still in my life. It took us being trapped here for me to realize what those feelings were.

I'm not sure whether we are going to make it back to Hogwarts or what the consequences are. All I am sure about is how I feel and what I want, which is I want you. But thank you for trying to respect me enough to make sure I am comfortable with what is happening." Hermione leaned over and gave Draco a chaste kiss.

"Hermione…" Draco began, he had so much he wanted to convey but didn't know how to put any of it into words.

Hermione only smiled and placed her hand on his cheek "You were right to stop us. It's not that I would have regretted it, but it would have been us giving up. If we ended up in bed together right now then we will be telling the universe that we are ok with this outcome and we aren't."

Draco smirked and pushed her hair back again "You're worried about what the universe thinks? I thought you didn't believe in divination; that's why you stormed out of class back in the third year and never returned."

Hermione rolled her eyes "I guess life experiences have shown me that things are just pre-planned, and there is nothing that can be done about it. However Trelawney is a nutter, and I refuse to sit in a class with someone who doesn't know what they are talking about."

"You do realize that her entire family was cursed?" Draco questioned.

"What?" Hermione's eyes got wide in confusion.

"Yes, her grandmother I believe was the first person affected by it. All their predictions are true, but no one will believe them" Draco went on to explain.

Hermione bit her lip and looked apologetic "Oh my! I feel like a…"

"Prat?" Draco supplied a word with a smirk.

Hermione in turn lightly slapped his arm "No… Well yes, but she said I had no potential at divination. I was not about to fail a class, so I withdrew."

Draco laughed "Ha the secret is finally out. To be honest, I would have done the same. Even though I never took a class that I was going to fail."

Hermione frowned she didn't like to think of the one thing that she couldn't master. "We need to form a plan on what we are going to do."

Draco had leaned back against the pillows, with his left arm behind his head "What do you suggest?"

"We are going to demand Clarke to send us back."

Draco clicked his tongue "Easier said than done. He doesn't want to help us; our best option is to make it off the ship, go to New York and then go to the ministry there so they can send us back."

Hermione shook her head "No. The likely hood of them believing us is slim to none. We have no magic. We need Clarke. When the ship strikes, the iceberg is when we need to get to him. Perhaps in the actual event, he won't be such a tosser."

Draco raised his eyebrows at her.

She shrugged "I know it is a long shot, but it is the only option. We can't risk us getting separated in the end."

"We wouldn't get separated," Draco said.

"Remember how I told you yesterday that traditions and customs here are different, well women were considered to be weak and were made to get on lifeboats first. The men, however, weren't allowed too, so most of the deaths were men who weren't able to get on lifeboats. The crew members also didn't fill the lifeboats to full capacity; we can't rely on them. No, the plan needs to be us banging on his door until he agrees to send us back" Hermione slapped her hands on her thighs as she stood up from the bed.

"There is my little Gryffindor, always refusing to back down" Draco chuckled. Hermione sent him a sly grin.

She walked over to the wardrobe and stopped "Do you even want to go to dinner this evening? I mean we could stay in here all night. We could avoid the awkward goodbye with Mary and Daniel…"

Draco stood up and walked up behind her, he rubbed her shoulders and gave her a sweet kiss on her cheek "We should say a proper goodbye to them. Even if it will be awkward, we wouldn't have gotten this far without them, and I know you wouldn't like leaving without some closure with them. We could always tell them and bring them back to the future with us."

Hermione melted her body into his "You know we could never do that. If we brought them back with us would be the same thing as us staying here. Besides they are muggles, we are just destined to live different lives."

She sighed at her words; she was going to miss Mary, for the first time she felt she had a friend who liked everything that she did. Ginny was wonderful, but she was feisty and liked sports. Ginny was always popular, and Hermione was the know-it-all sidekick to Harry. Harry was the real reason Hermione had any friends at all. Yes as she got older she learned how to be a better friend and not so consumed with school but Mary was the first person who shared her passion for reading. Mary liked to talk and have debates on what she read, which Hermione loved. She was so used to having people just half listening to her when she spoke. Draco is the only other person that listens to what Hermione has to say.

Hermione sighed "Them I guess we should get changed." She stepped forward and took the green dress from the wardrobe.

"Green?" Draco asked.

She could hear his grin. "I thought it was pretty."

Draco licked his lips "Granger I am trying not to ruin whatever you have going on with the universe, and it knows you're not giving up or whatever, but green? You realize I am Slytherin and green is my one of my favorite colors? If it looks half as good as I imagine, I am going to have to take a cold shower."

Hermione laughed "Stop being an idiot. Yes, I picked this dress because it was green, I must have subconsciously wanted you to like it. However, now it is my only option to wear so if you excuse me I'm getting changed." She shoved him away as she stepped out of the pink dress.

"You're killing me, Granger!" Draco joked from the other side of the room where he was getting dressed.

Hermione could only shake her head as she chuckled.

Twenty minutes later Draco and Hermione were armed in arm walking into the dining room. Taking a quick glance around the room, they spotted the Marvin's sitting with people they didn't know "You ready for this?" Draco asked concerned.

Hermione sighed "No, it is going to be sad; but it has to be done."

Draco brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. The action made Hermione feel slightly better; she smiled at him.

He led the way to the table. As they approached, Mary exclaimed gleefully "Oh I am so glad that you are here. I was afraid you weren't up to joining us this evening."

"We almost didn't, to be honest; we lost track of time. Luckily our stomachs didn't" Hermione joked as they took their seats.

Daniel shook Draco's hand as he sat "Let me introduce you to everyone. To my left, this is Mr. Stephen Blackwell, next is Miss. Edith Evans, followed by the lovely Newell sisters Marjorie and Madeleine with their father, Arthur. They have been telling us of their adventures to the Middle East quite fascinating. Finally Mr. Walter Porter, Mr. George Clifford, and Mr. John Maguire. Everyone these are our dear friends Draco and Hermione Malfoy."

Everyone murmured hello at the new additions to their table. Edith spoke first after the interruption "Now Marjorie you were saying what it was like visiting Egypt. What was your favorite part?"

Marjorie, who was a pretty girl and looked to be in her early twenty's, smiled. "I would say going to the museums and seeing all the old artifacts. The amount of detail that they put into everything, even a simple pot, is remarkable. We were able to see the pyramids but alas unable to go inside. Madeleine here was glad that we couldn't, but I have always been prone and intrigued by the slightly creepy" Marjorie gave a soft feminine laugh.

Madeleine, who was clearly older, then Marjorie and unfortunately for her not as pretty either, interjected "Being cautious isn't a bad trait my dear sister. Besides, I enjoyed visiting the Holy Land much better than Egypt. Just to be immersed in a place where our religion started is something to revel in."

Their father looked sternly at them "Now girls, no one here wants to hear you two bicker."

The girls looked ashamed "Sorry father" they said together.

A moment of silence was placed upon the table until Stephen asked, to none of the three other men in particular "So what is your story?"

Walter, like Stephen, was middle-aged, but didn't carry it as well, wiped his mouth with his napkin "We are just returning from a trip to Europe. We are all business associates, and while the trip was intended to be relaxing, we are heading back with many business prospects."

John, who was quite handsome with chocolate brown hair with matching eyes, he was a sight to see, he was also the youngest of the three, "I'm just glad that these guys invited me to come along. We've had some great adventures, but I am ready to go home." He laughed as he scanned the table ending his eyes in Hermione who was seated next to him. She blushed and looked down at her plate, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Draco.

The main course of the ten courses they were serving came soon afterward, and the large table discussions had ended. Only the sounds of silverware and soft whispers could be heard. Hermione looked around the table; she wondered what would become of them. Would they live? Would the die? She should have grown used to it during the war, but it is never easy to see one person alive one moment and the next see or hear that they have died. It was like the war all over again where she was going to lose people she cared about, and there was little or nothing that she could do.

Her thoughts were interrupted when John, who leaned over towards her "Please forgive my forwardness, I just wanted to say you look lovely this evening."

Hermione blushed again, it was one thing to get complimented from Draco, but to have a stranger say you look lovely that was another special. Before she could answer though and tell him his actions were quite inappropriate Draco did.

"Mate, I am fully aware how beautiful and lovely my wife is. So I will kindly tell you once to refrain from making any more comments like that or even looking in her direction If I have to say it again I won't be so kind nor calm." Draco held John's gaze; John muffled an apology.

Hermione turned towards Draco and looked at him with awe.

Draco was still frowning looked over at Hermione and he sighed out his anger and leaned over to whisper in her ear "You might not technically be my wife, but I would hope we are something more than just friends. I'm not going to sit by and let some other man ogle over you."

Hermione felt her insides get warm; she always thought that the idea of men getting jealous was ridiculous, but to her surprise, she liked that Draco was. It made her feel wanted. "We are more than just friends Draco" she kissed his cheek.

They both turned back to their dinner.

Whether Edith meant to or not, she was speaking rather loudly. Hermione heard her say something to Marjorie, who ignored her. Hermione, however, wanted to know what was said, so she asked. "Excuse me, don't mean to intrude but what were you saying? It sounded like you were saying something about the speed of the ship."

Edith blushed "Sorry my loud mouth got the better of me. I was just asking if you think the ship is moving too fast. We are in the icebergs, and I think we should slow down."

The question lingered around the table. George said, "I have the utmost faith in the crew if they felt the ship was going too fast I'm sure they would slow down."

Edith nodded "You are perhaps right. It's just I can't help but recall what a fortune teller told me before I left England. She told me to beware of water. I've never been afraid of water, nor will I let something that is meant to be just for fun run my life; but one never knows."

Hermione and Draco give each other a quick glance. Mary smiled "That's silly, everyone knows that fortune tellers aren't real. Just enjoy the rest of the journey and we will be in New York before we know it."

Dinner concluded around nine, the men were heading to the smoking room, and the women were either going to go to sleep or stay and chat. Hermione and Draco refused both offers from Mary and Daniel.

The time had come for the final goodbye; Hermione embraced Mary tightly. "Mary I am so glad that I have met you. You truly are a wonderful person."

Mary was confused by the gesture, but returned it just the same "You as well Hermione."

"Goodbye Mary" she whispered as she kissed Mary's cheek.

Authors note: Hi! Thanks for sticking with this story. The original last chapter was just too long so I'm splitting it up. Just want to also say that the people at dinner with Draco and Hermione were all real passengers on Titanic and what they talked about is accurate since according to ship records what I have them doing is what they did. Including Edith's trip to the fortune teller. Again thanks for enjoying this story and having patience while I fix and finish this story.


	9. Chapter 9

_**AUTHORS NOTE: Hi all. I am very close to being done with this story.I'm thinking either one or two more chapters though TBH it's probably going to be one more chapter. I honestly hope that you've all enjoyed this story. I want to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and added this to their follows. It really means a lot to me.**_ :)

Hermione and Draco sprinted out of the dining room before anything else could be said. Hermione could feel the tears burning in her eyes.

Draco squeezed her hand in comfort "I know that it is hard, and we don't know whether they live or die, but we have more important issues at hand."

"I know, I just don't like feeling so helpless."

"I understand that, but remember that this already happened and like you said already we can't change it. If you want when we get back, we can find out what happens to them" Draco offered.

Hermione collected herself after a few quick breaths "We will cross that bridge when we get to it. Let's gather our things and be prepared to demand that Clarke sends us back. I don't even care that he is unwilling to share information. Like John said earlier at dinner I am just ready to go home."

At the mention of John, Draco scowled, but he didn't say anything.

Back in their room, they changed out of their borrowed clothes and back into their original ones

. "I'm tempted to bring this dress back with me, it is so beautiful" she traced her fingers along the vine green dress that now lay on the bed.

"Hermione you were stunning in that dress, if I see you in it again I can promise you if I see that dress again I will be ripping it off of you" Draco crept closer and gently kissed her neck.

She purred in delight; this caused Draco to take small nips at her neck. He slowly stopped "Sorry, you just have a way of making me losing control."

Hermione licked her lips and smiled "it's nice to know I have that effect on you. Let's gather our things and go over what the plan is."

Draco relaxed on the bed "I don't have any things, so I'll just sit here."

Hermione shook her head as she went into the bathroom to gather her things. She was having trouble fitting everything back into her bag. "Bollocks!"

Lying on the bed still refusing to move Draco called out "What's the matter?"

Hermione returned to the main room "It seems that my charmed bag is no longer charmed, so all the stuff I had fit in there before will now no longer fit. I should have realized that this was going to happen. I don't know what I was thinking…." Her voice died away.

Draco didn't raise his head from the pillow he only opened his eyes to look at Hermione. "Well, what do you need to bring back with us? Is there anything that is incriminating that when this wreck is presumably found will it lead to the discovery of wizards? If yes, bring than if no leave it. Sometimes you make things, so complicated Hermione" Draco closed his eye again.

"I do not make things complicated!" she said defensively.

Draco still not moving only said "Yes you do. You like to know all of the answers instead of just looking for the simplest one, which usually ends up being the right answer in the long run. It's something that you will most likely always do, and I have come to terms with it, but now you have to. You need to realize that you are the type of person who complicates things, and I am the type of person who makes them uncomplicated. Once you realize this life will be better."

Hermione huffed "Sometimes… It is when you say things like that that make me want to scream!"

This time, Draco opened his eyes and stared at his frustrated witch "Why because you know that I am right?"

He always liked it when he could get on her nerves; it was how their relationship worked. It was how it always had worked the only difference now it was all in good fun. They each need a challenge to figure stuff out. So each knew that if they took away their back and forth they would no longer be the same people, they wouldn't be the people that each had fallen for.

"No! Ugh yes!" Hermione huffed again "I wouldn't say you make things uncomplicated… but if I had to admit… I do sometimes over think things."

Draco smiled, he took this as a win for him. "So what are the items that won't fit back into the bag?"

Hermione began to count off the items "My hairbrush, my lotion, my shampoo…"

"You need to bring that back."

Hermione paused her list and looked at him confused "What?"

"Your shampoo, you need to bring that back with you, if that is the only thing that can fit then everything else stays but that has to come back," he said adamantly.

Hermione raised an eyebrow "Why are you so determined about my shampoo? Granted that is the only wizard product that I brought with me since it helps tame my hair, but you wouldn't know that so…"

Draco reached out his arm for her to grab it, which she did. When he had a hold on her, he pulled her onto the bed with him. After he had nestled her close and her hair was almost on his face, he leaned into her ear and whispered "The scent. The scent is intoxicating, sweet and bold, everything that you are. It is the scent that makes me crazy because I know that when I smell it, you are close to me."

Hermione, who was facing him, looked up, at that moment their eyes locked. Her brown meeting his gray, Hermione grabbed his face and pulled it towards hers. Locking their lips together. Their tongues are begging to be in each other mouths. Draco moved his arm that was around her waist to her bum giving it a slight squeeze, causing Hermione to moan and Draco's tongue entrée her open mouth.

They soon were in a similar position like they were earlier but this time, no one stopped it.

Draco removed his shirt first then went back to kissing Hermione. He paused only for a moment to ask quietly "Do you want me or yourself to remove your clothes?"

Hermione licked her lips and meekly answered: "Umm I'll do it."

Hermione was trying to fight her nerves; she was trying to locate some of the bravery she was known for. She sat up slightly and pulled her shirt and bra off, then raising her hips pulled off her knickers and pants. She almost liked that it wasn't super sensual and romantic but rather technical and logical that's where her brain worked best.

Draco removed his clothing.

Hermione took the sight of him in; her nerves left. He was all she wanted. She pulled him close again.

In between kisses, Draco tried to speak "You… are in… charge. If… you… want something… to stop… or to… do it… again… tell me."

Hermione moaned and nodded in response.

Draco began a trail of kisses starting at her jaw leading down to her breasts. He kneaded her left nipple with his thumb as he gently licked and flicked the right with his tongue. Hermione jerked her body forward; it felt so good to her.

Draco switched and repeated the action. After a few minutes his lips returned to her lips, his hands crept down her body stopping at her sex. Using two fingers, he inserted them in. Hermione winced for a moment. "Are you ok?" he asked gently.

"Yes. I'm fine. It's ok; I want this."

Draco kissed her again and began to move his fingers inside her. He could feel her body relaxing as she got used to it. He inserted another finger and with his thumb began to massage her clit, which caused her to gasp in pleasure.

Draco was leaning over her and Hermione looked him in the eyes and said in a soft voice "I… I think I'm ready to go all the way."

"This may hurt, but it'll be ok. If you want me to stop just tell me alright?" Draco kissed her again on the lips and along her jawline.

"Alright," Hermione closed her eyes.

Draco lined himself up to her and slowly entered.

Hermione's face squished together from the discomfort, but she assured Draco that she was fine and to keep going.

Draco slowly continued to thrust into her.

Finally, she was comfortable with what was happening. "A bit faster please she said breathlessly.

Draco smiled as he kissed her and sped up his actions. He continued to massage her clit which caused Hermione to stir.

Her body was close to ecstasy "Draco…" She rose her hips subconsciously to meet his.

This action caused him to go deeper, picking up speed once again he pushed into her. He could feel her walls get tight around him; he almost lost it then. "Oh, Hermione!"

. "Draco…" her head fell backward, and she let out a moan of pleasure.

Draco lasted only four more thrusts, and he too enjoyed his release. He collapsed on top of her; their bodies dripping with sweat.

Hermione was running her fingers through his hair, and he was listening to her heartbeat.

They lay like that for a while, until Draco moved from on top of her chest to next to her. He kissed her "Are you ok?"

Hermione kissed him back "I am better than ok. Thank you for being so gentle and patient with me."

Draco didn't respond he only kissed her again.

They were cuddled in each other's arms when Hermione nervously asked: "This may be the wrong time to ask but who have you slept with?"

Draco kissed her again "It was only once so don't think I'm some expert but it was with Daphne Greengrass."

"I'm glad you're no expert but it was also nice that you sort of knew what you were doing." Hermione kissed his chest and snuggled closer.

Draco wrapped his arms tighter around her. "Wish we had magic because then we could use a scouring charm, we'll have that next time."

Hermione smirked as she snuggled closer to him again. She didn't want to move, but she knew that she had too. The clock on the mantle chimed to say it was eleven o'clock.

"We have forty minutes before we hit the iceberg, let's each take a shower, get dressed and then by then we should be able to go to Clarke's cabin," Hermione said.

"You can use the shower first if you want" he offered.

Hermione kissed him as she got out of the bed.

He watched her all the way to the bathroom door. He knew he was in deep, after hearing the click of the door he sat up in bed. Draco ran his hand through his hair; he hoped that Clarke wasn't going to be such an ass to them and just send them home. He didn't care about his blood theory, nor that he illegally obtained a wand, he just wants him and Hermione home in their dorm room.

Draco picked up the clothes that were strewn all over the floor.

He carefully folded Hermione's and placed them next to her bag on the table. His clothes he put at the end of the bed, his wand that was in his pocket had rolled away, so he bent down to pick that up.

This was the longest amount of time that he went without his wand since he became of age, even before that he always had it with him if you ignore the times during the war. He gripped his wand tight in his hand; he missed magic so much.

"I miss it as well."

The sound of her voice startled him; he jumped slightly as he turned around.

She chuckled and repeated the statement "I miss magic too. I thought that since my parents were muggles and I was raised in the Muggle world, I would be able to adapt easier to life without it; but nope. I find myself reaching for my wand. It is a part of us, and if I have anything to say about it, we are going to be using it again!"

"My stubborn Gryffindor never taking no for an answer."

Hermione shrugged "Why take no when you can get a yes? Now get into the shower, I want to be settled when the ship collides with the iceberg."

Draco headed to the bathroom "I'll be out momentarily."

Hermione watched him walk away; she couldn't believe that she had sex with Draco Malfoy, and yet when she thought about it, she couldn't think of anyone else she wanted to have sex with.

The shower had helped ease the pain and discomfort she felt, but she winced when she put on her clothes. Hermione wished she had magic at that moment to use a contraceptive charm on herself. Her cycle was very regular so in her own time, she wasn't ovulating so they'd be all set, though it was unclear how time travel affects things like that. The last thing they needed was an unplanned pregnancy. She wasn't going to stress about it, whatever happens, happens. In this time period, they wouldn't be too young to be parents. Even in their time, the wizarding world was famous for having parents be young but it's not something she wanted to happen before she finished school.

She quickly got dressed, threw her hair up into the same messy bun that she had been sporting for the past two days, and began to pack up her things. She had decided that she would leave behind her hairbrush, her toothbrush (she had plenty more back in her dorm thanks to her parents), and her face lotion since it was just a generic brand that she bought before the semester started, she just happened to keep magically it full. She fit the shampoo bottle in, along with her dirty clothing and then she placed her wand in. Hermione then placed the time turner around her neck, holding it gently in her hands she sighed. _"How do I always seem to get myself into such messes? I thought it was always Harry and Ron's fault, but here I am in my created mess"_ she thought to herself.

"That's because you are a curious person, who always needs the answers, and the fact that you like to solve problems you sometimes need to create them."

It was Hermione's turn to jump in surprise at the sound of his voice. She frowned "Don't sneak up on me."

Draco chuckled "I didn't realize that the Gryffindor princess was so easily startled. Besides, you did it to me."

"What I did was different, I saw that you were missing using your wand, I didn't read your thoughts" Hermione pointed out. "Also, who calls me the Gryffindor princess?"

Draco shrugged as he buttoned his trousers "It's not as I read it on purpose, I thought you had said it out loud. It seems only to happen when we are in the same room together. As for calling you Gryffindor princess that was the nickname that was given to you by us Slytherin's. Well, when we weren't calling you mud blood" he slightly twitched as he said the word. Although I think the other houses may have picked up the phrase."

"Seriously? To me when you are called princess it means you are popular and I was not. My only real friends were Harry and Ron; everyone else tolerated me since I helped with homework. I mean as time progressed a select few became somewhat friends, but not enough for me to be considered popular. It is why we called you the Slytherin Prince, you were popular, and your family history made you royalty."

The two of them had settled on the couch in the room facing each other as they talked.

Draco gave her a warning look "Don't confuse adoration for real friends. In fact, I'm sure people were scared of what my father would do to them and their families if they were unkind to me. Crabbe and Goyle were my lackey's; I had known them since I was young which is why they were always by my side. Flint liked me for my Quidditch abilities and the brooms my father bought everyone. Theodore liked me for my good grades. My only true friend that didn't put up with my shit was/is Blaise. So I might have seemed popular, but I wasn't. You can't always judge the book by its cover right?"

Hermione looked ashamed; she had judged Draco "I'm sorry."

"There is no need to apologize. I was fine with keeping up the appearance; I just wanted people to like me. Even if they didn't like me for me and I was just a means to an end for them. Now that I am older I realize that having everyone like you isn't worth it, and one good friend is all you need."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Hermione had moved closer to him and snuggled into his shoulder. He placed his hand on her thigh and glanced over at the clock on the mantle. The time was eleven thirty-nine

"It's about to happen," he said.

Hermione looked at the time herself; this was it.

Hermione took Draco's hand, and they held each other as they felt the ship begin to shake. The whole shipped shuddered, and then stilled as the engines were shut off.

"That wasn't as bad as I imagined it to be," Draco said.

"The worst is yet to come. As we speak the lower compartments are filling with water rapidly. A ton per second to be exact. The pressure is going to be dragging the ship down, luckily it will float for a few hours, and then a little bit after two all the water that had been coming in will be too much for the ship to handle and it will crack in half, finally sinking."

Hermione stood up "We should go now before the corridors become crowded with crew and passengers."

Draco joined her in standing "Ready when you are."

Hermione led the way to Clarke's cabin. When they reached it, she banged on the door. She was not going to let the man bully them again; he was going to send them home whether he liked it or not.

After one more bang, Clarke opened the door "I thought I said not to bother me again. Although I am surprised it took you this long to try and convince me."

To the pair's surprise, Clarke allowed them to enter his room.

Hermione stood as tall as she could "You see Mr. Clarke that while you said and did horrible things this afternoon, we have been through much worse. If you don't care that we have been to war as children, or that I wanted to learn about you and share the knowledge with everyone so that what Draco and I had to go through never happens again then so be it. But I'll be damned if you let us die on this ship because of your grudges. You will be sending us back to our present, and you will do it now!"

Draco smiled at her and then looked at Clarke to see his reaction. Draco was surprised when Clarke's face softened, and a small smile appeared.

"You are a very determined girl aren't you?"

Hermione nodded "Yes when I want something I go and get it."

"I suppose I owe you each an apology for my behavior earlier. You are right I was holding onto a grudge. If you still want answers, I am willing to give them to you now." Clarke offered them to take a seat.

Hermione and Draco steal a glance at each other, Draco nods at her to ask him questions. "How did you discover the mutation?"

"In all honesty, I didn't set out to discover that. I was trying to find a cure or a vaccine for troll flu. There was an epidemic a few years prior, and I wanted to know if there was a way we could either prevent it or be able to have it not be as horrible it was. The wizarding world lost nearly a quarter of the population with the outbreak. So I set out to find something that would help. I began trying different potions, spells anything that might work. Besides my blood sample, which is pure blood, I took one from a muggle that I occasionally had worked with. I figured that since their blood was tainted no matter what I did to it, it wouldn't matter. I had injected each of our blood with the virus and then tried the potions to see how it affected the disease. What I found was that not only was our blood ninety-nine percent the same but that one percent that was different is what makes me a wizard and them a muggle.

"I put my quest for a cure for troll flu on hold while I tried to gather more info on what I found out. I took samples from nearly a hundred purebloods, muggle-born and same for muggles. Each vile of blood I tested the results came out the same. With this info it couldn't be a coincidence, wizards and muggles were the same except for that one small gene that makes you either have magic or not. It was believed that you needed to have a wizard or witch in your family tree to end up having a Muggle-born, in reality, all of our ancestors, muggle, and wizard alike, had magic. As time progressed, the majority of people stopped using magic, and only some still used it which is the beginning of people thinking they were pure because they kept the ancient powers. With evolution, our bodies adapted and some have that extra gene and others don't."

Hermione was in awe "So it is similar to Down Syndrome, which you are born with an extra chromosome that makes you different, but in this case, the extra chromosome gives us magic."

Clarke nodded "I suppose, I'm unaware of what exactly down syndrome is, but essentially yes."

He had risen from his seat and went over to his desk and pulled out a large envelope that was bound together with a piece of twine. He looked at it sighed; he held it out for Hermione to take.

She looked at him curiously "Mr. Clarke?"

"My dear, having this information perish with me tonight won't help anyone. Take it with you and hopefully, one day there will be no more blood prejudice."

Hermione carefully took the man's work; she let her hand pet it gently. She looked at Clarke "You can always come back with us. Or create a port key, since you somehow obtained a wand and go straight to America. How did you get a wand?"

Clarke smiled "We both know that neither of those can happen. You should know by now Ms. Granger you can't change things that are destined to be. I am destined to die tonight, and that is just how it has to be. I have a dear old friend who felt sorry for me so he got me this wand to use in emergencies. You might've heard of him Albus Dumbledore."

Draco scoffed "Leave it to Dumbledore to not follow the ministries orders."

"Draco!" Hermione said.

Clarke laughed " No the boy is right. Albus never did what he was told. He seemed to have a way of knowing things before they were to happen and never let anyone know even if it would help them."

"That's Dumbledore alright," Hermione said.

There was a knock on the door. Clarke opened it to find a steward on the other side. "Good evening sir, we are having a lifeboat drill please dress warmly and put on your lifebelt located on top of the wardrobe and make your way to the deck." With a nod, the steward left.

Clarke shook his head and cleared his throat "A lifeboat drill honestly. Shall we begin the time turner."

Hermione nodded and turned towards the older gentleman. She pulled the time turner out of her shirt and held it out for Clarke.

"What is the year that you are returning to again?"

"Nineteen ninety-eight" Hermione could feel tears start to form.

"Mr. Clarke…" she started to say.

She wanted to tell him she was happy that he gave them the information, wanted to say that she is sorry that in a short amount of time he would be another body floating in the cold waters, so much that she wanted to say and yet she couldn't think of the right words.

"Please don't cry for me. This is how it is supposed to be, except this time my work might help."

Hermione couldn't help it, she wrapped her arms around the man and hugged him. After a moment, she stepped back and wiped her tears away "I promise I will make sure everyone knows what you discovered and that we won't let blood prejudices cause war again."

Clarke smiled and began to spin the time turner.

Hermione had one hand holding Draco's and the other had the large envelope which she held tight against her chest. Soon the pair was spinning through time, surrounded by a bright white light. There was a tug trying to pull them apart but that never let go each other

In what felt like a moment later Draco and Hermione were standing back in her dorm room.

Everything was the same as it was when they left and yet everything was different. Hermione let out a sigh; Draco held her close to him.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked.

Hermione pulled away from him took her wand out and levitated the envelope to her desk where she secured it with a protection spell. It felt great to do magic again

. "We do like we said and made sure everyone knows what Clarke discovered."

"Do you want to take it to McGonagall now?" Draco asked

Hermione shook her head "no I just want to lay down next to you."

Which is what they did.


	10. Chapter 10

**_AUTHORS NOTE: So we've made it to the last chapter. Thanks for sticking through this story, I know it's been a while since I started it. I want to say that I honestly appreciate all of your support whether you left a review, or added this to your follows/favorites. I hope you enjoyed it, leave a review and tell me what you thought of it!_**

 ** _Also going to add this here in case anyone is confused. I do not own Harry Potter that honor goes to JK Rowling. I also don't own Titanic the ship or the movie that goes to White Star Line and James Cameron. Because if I did own either of these franchises my bank account wouldn't be so sad all the time._**

FIVE HOURS SINCE RETURNING FROM 1912

Hermione and Draco had fallen asleep after they got back. The sound of knocking had caused them to stir. The knocking was coming from the portrait door.

"Mhmm," Hermione hummed at Draco as she gave him a soft shove. "Will you see who that is?"

Draco groaned but did as she asked. He rolled over the side of the bed and grunted as he stood. Stretching his body as he walked towards the door. Shuffling his feet and dragging his hands through his hair he wondered who could be on the other side of the door. He looked at the clock on the mantle, and it read eight. The sky outside was pitch black; he didn't realize that they had slept for so long.

It was hard to wrap his around what had happened. They had been away for two full days but only eight hours had passed while they were away. If he hadn't woken up in Hermione's bed he might've thought it was a really strange dream.

When they got back they talked about what was going to happen with them. They could no longer pretend that their pasts didn't exist, they were back in the real world.

Hermione had said that she wants to be with Draco, she had forgiven him for his past and she knows the kind of person he really is. Draco wanted a relationship as well, he wasn't scared of what people might think, he wanted to be happy and Hermione made him happy.

They also performed the contraceptive charm on Hermione. She was sure that time travel wouldn't affect her cycle but it was better to be safe than sorry. It was one thing to explain to everyone that they were dating, let alone if they were going to have a baby!

The knocking continued, louder now.

"I'm coming" Draco growled. He shoved the door open "What?" he said in a nasty tone, then he saw that it was Professor McGonagall standing outside their door with a bewitched doorknocker still banging on the door.

He stood straighter and cleared his throat "I mean what can I do for you, Headmistress?"

McGonagall raised her eyebrows at him "Mmhmm." She waved her wand at the doorknocker and it turned into a handkerchief that she placed in her robe pocket.

"You can start by telling me why you and the head girl have neglected all of your duties today. Along with missing every single meal. Are you two ill? If so then you should be in the hospital wing. Are you not going to invite me inside Mr. Malfoy?" She was glaring at him now.

"I… uh yes of course!" Draco stood aside so McGonagall could walk past. He closed the door behind her. "You see… as for us not being around all day… well, Hermione can probably explain it better than I can" He said she walked into the common room.

McGonagall turned towards Draco and furrowed her brows "Since you can't supply the answers, then let me speak with Ms. Granger."

Draco gulped, he felt like a child being caught having eaten all the Christmas cookies. "I believe she is sleeping, let me knock on her door." He waved his hand in a gesture to McGonagall to have a seat. He walked towards Hermione's door and was glad that he had closed her door because he didn't want McGonagall to know he had been in Hermione's room. They were in enough trouble as it was.

He knocked on her door and a practically shouted "Hermione, you need to wake up. Professor McGonagall is here and wants to know where we have been all day."

Draco heard Hermione give a quiet gasp, "I'll be right out."

Draco turned back to McGonagall, who had taken a seat on the couch. He decided to sit in the chair closest to the fireplace and opposite the couch; Hermione could sit next to the headmistress.

"Good evening Professor" Hermione greeted McGonagall as she exited her room. "What can I do for you?" She sat on the opposite side of the couch and turned to face McGonagall.

"Well, Ms. Granger, you and Mr. Malfoy have neglected all of your head girl/boy duties today. You both were supposed to have a prefect meeting after dinner; it is mid-semester, and you needed to make sure that everyone is doing as they are tasked to do. You were also supposed to meet with me after lunch and go over the final arrangements for the Fall festival ball that is being held the second weekend in November, which may I remind you is next week! I've come to learn that neither of you has been seen all day; I am aware that neither of you have classes on Friday, but to skip meals and meetings that is unlike the both of you. So please tell me why you weren't where you were supposed to be."

Hermione bit her lip and looked away from the Professor. Should she tell McGonagall? She was going too eventually but now? Hermione looked over at Draco for some insight. He looked just as confused as she felt, he shrugged not sure on what to do either.

"Someone needs to give me an explanation and give it to me now," McGonagall said firmly.

Draco looked at Hermione and nodded his head. "We might as well tell her now; it is going to be not believable at any point so why not now."

"Tell me what?" McGonagall looked back and forth at Hermione and Draco, waiting for one of them to answer.

Hermione took a deep breath "Well you see, the reason we didn't go to any meals or meetings is because we weren't here."

"What do you mean you weren't here dear?" McGonagall asked she was very confused.

Hermione blushed in embarrassment. "Well, I had an assignment for History of Magic, it was to write about a wizard or witch that wasn't well known and discuss their accomplishments. I chose a wizard by the name of Wilford Crockford, he had discovered a mutation in blood that proved that wizards and muggles are ninety-nine percent the same except this one tiny mutation that let one do magic and the other not. Well after what we had been through I wanted to know more about it since Crockford was banished from the wizarding world for his discovery there was only one way to get the information and that was to go back to when he was last known to be, which was the RMS Titanic 1912. So I took my time turner from the third year and went back to 1912. But there was an accident and Draco had gotten swept up in the time warp. So the two of us have been away for two days trying to collect the information from Crockford, who now went by the name of Clarke. We almost didn't make it back, but Clarke sent us back and he gave me his files so that we can share the information so we don't have wars over blood purity again."

McGonagall sat with a stunned look on her face. "I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy is correct when he says this isn't believable."

Hermione rushed to her room, she came back with the file that Clarke had given her only a few hours prior. "If it didn't happen to us I would perhaps not believe it either, but it's the truth. Here are all of Clarkes files and I promised him to take this to the ministry and have it be officially recognized. Please, Professor, will you help us?"

Hermione handed over everything to McGonagall who stared at in disbelief.

"You really traveled back to 1912 and made it back without causing a time catastrophe. Sirius was right when he told everyone that you are the brightest witch of our age. Of course, I will help. I'll owl for Kingsley to come to the school at once and go over this with him. To be honest I'm not sure on what to do with you two. You clearly have broken rules, due to your time travel, that could be an expellable offense, but you did do a good thing. So this is what I am going to do. You both have to serve an hour detention with me on Monday, does that sound fair?" McGonagall asked not really looking for objections.

"Yes very fair," Hermione said.

"Yes Ma'am," Draco said.

"Good, I will let the prefects know that you two were sick and the meeting has been moved to tomorrow at nine am. I expect you both to be there by eight-forty-five understood?"

"Yes Ma'am," they said in unison.

McGonagall began to rise when Draco called out to her.

"Professor have you ever heard of people reading each other's thoughts without the use of legimency?"

McGonagall quirk her head to the side "Are you experiencing that?"

Hermione nodded. "It was something that has been happening for a while but it wasn't until this incident that we actually noticed that we can hear each other's thoughts even when we aren't even trying to."

"Have either of used legimency on the other before?" McGonagall asked.

Draco looked at his lap "I used it on Hermione during the war."

Hermione came to Draco's defense "It was when the snatchers had taken us to Malfoy Manor and I was being tortured by Bellatrix. Draco entered my mind to help relieve the pressure of the crutacius curse. He probably saved me from being a vegetable, like poor Nevilles parent's."

McGonagall nodded in understanding "So what must have happened that due the force of the curse a part of each of your thoughts were combined together while Mr. Malfoy was in your mind. I've never heard of this happening so I can't tell you if it is permanent but it might be something that you want to work on so the wrong thoughts don't get to the other person. I'll let you two go back to bed and will see you in the morning."

"Thank you, Professor," Draco said.

"Good night professor, and thank you," Hermione said as she led McGonagall to the door.

Hermione returned to the common room and sat on the couch. Draco joined her and wrapped his arm around her. She put her head on his shoulder.

"Does it bother you that we can hear each other's thoughts? Do you want to practice occulumency?" He asked.

"No, it doesn't bother me, just something we need to be more conscious about. I like being able to talk to you with no one being able to hear us, it might turn out to be quite useful" she chuckled.

"Would you like to go back to bed?" Draco asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"Well, what do you want to do?"

Hermione sat up "I didn't think I wanted to know what happened to Daniel and Mary, but I do. Do you think that information would be in the library? It should since they do have muggle literature in there so I assume they would have something on Titanic for those who are curious."

"They have muggle literature in the library?" Draco asked.

"Of course, it wouldn't be a great library if they didn't have everything," Hermione said.

"Wonder if they have Sherlock Holmes, I never got to finish the Study in Scarlet and I want to find out how it ends," he said.

"We'll look after we look about Daniel and Mary. Can we go know please?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, let's go." Draco stood up and intertwined his hand with Hermione's and headed for the library.

The library was quiet, only a few second year Ravenclaws were huddled around a table near the door.

Hermione went to her normal table, pulled out her wand "Accio Titanic books."

Draco had to duck his head a few times as numerous books whizzed by and landed on the table. "Is that how you always collect books?"

"Yes, it is the easiest and saves so much time rather than strolling the stacks trying to find what you are looking for. You take this pile and I'll take this one" she said as she pointed to the pile in front of her.

The two flipped through the books, none so far had information on the passengers until finally, Hermione squealed in delight. "This is it" she looked at the cover "Encyclopedia- Titanic."

Draco closed the book he was looking at and scooted his chair closer to Hermione. She flipped through the pages about the first class passengers.

"Ok here is Daniel and Mary." She began to read in her head "Oh no!" Hermione looked away from the book and began to cry.

Draco began to read out loud what it said about Daniel and Mary. "Daniel and Mary were married in Manhattan on January 8, 1912. They honeymooned in Europe departing aboard Mauretania, and for their return to the USA, they bordered the Titanic at Southhampton as first-class passengers. On the night of the sinking, Daniel assisted his wife to a boat with the words "It's alright, little girl. You go. I will stay." Daniel died in the sinking, his body, if recovered, was never identified. Daniel became a posthumous father following the sinking. Mary gave birth to a daughter named Mary Margaret "Peggy" (later Mrs. Wheaton Kittredge) on 21 October 1912. Mary later remarried and had a further two children before her death in 1975."

Hermione sniffed back a sob and leaned her head onto Draco.

Draco wrapped his arms around her pulling her into a hug. "I'm sad too, Daniel was my friend too, but they had a daughter and that is a wonderful thing."

"That's true, but poor Mary to never find his remains, and to add to my guilt she never knew what happened to us, she probably thought we died in the sinking as well."

"You can't dwell on it, we had to come back to our time, and we couldn't tell Mary that we were a wizard and a witch. She lived as happy a life as she could. Do you want to find about the other people that we had dinner with?"

"Not tonight" Hermione shook her head. "Maybe some other time. I am just ready for bed. Will you lay with me?"

Draco kissed her forehead "Of course."

The walk back the dorm room was quiet, they walked into Hermione's room and laid on the bed. Hermione was once again in Draco's arms laying on his chest.

"Draco?" Hermione said in the silence.

"Yes."

"I'm going to say something that perhaps you won't be ready to say yet, but after everything we've been through and reading about Mary and Daniel, I want to say it to you," Hermione said.

"Ok…" Draco said a bit confused.

"I love you Draco. I love that you were the one to come back with me, help me, keep me on track, make me laugh, and never leaving me alone. I don't expect you to say it back, but I needed to tell you because you never know what tomorrow holds." Hermione sighed.

"I love you too Hermione. You're my dream girl and I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes" Draco squeezed her tighter and lent down to kiss her.

Hermione looked up at Draco and accepted his kiss. "Wow life really has changed since school started hasn't it," she said with a smile.

"A life so changed" Draco smirked and kissed her once again.


End file.
